Indonesian Bank Mandiri receives US$ 400 million for environmentally-friendly projects

Alexander Richter 12 May 2009

Reported by the Jakarta Post, “State-owned Bank Mandiri is receiving US$400 million in financing from the Agence Francaise de Developpement (AFD) and the Asian Development Bank to help finance environmentally friendly and socially-positive projects in the country.

Mandiri director Thomas Arifin said Wednesday that the bank had signed an agreement with AFD to channel $100 million in long-term loans to environmentally-friendly projects, worth a maximum of $15 million per project.

In addition, the bank is currently finalizing the documentation to secure $300 million of similar financing support from ADB for environmentally friendly projects.

“This is a breakthrough not only for Mandiri but also our banking industry. With this kind of financing support, we learn how to incorporate the environment into our assessment of projects,” Thomas told The Jakarta Post recently.

Thomas explained that the kind of projects Mandiri was looking for include clean energy projects, geothermal power plants, wind power plants and projects that consume less energy or make use of renewable energy sources.

He said AFD had extensive experience in financing environmentally-friendly projects, especially in areas such as energy efficiency and conservation and different forms of renewable energy.

Meanwhile, financing from ADB would require Mandiri to select projects that would incorporate environmental and social aspects in order to qualify for this financing. However, no details are yet available on what kind of environmentally friendly projects Mandiri would finance making use of the new financial support from ADB.”

So it seems like there is some money available for geothermal development in Indonesia through banks in the country, via European support.

Source: The Jakarta Post