BRUSSELS, Belgium, June 29, 2010 - Grenada’s application for a US$8.5 million loan to finance the second phase of the agricultural feeder roads project has been approved by the OPEC Fund for International Development.
The approval, by the governing board of the fund last week, paves the way for the start of work on over 25 feeder roads across the country and would provide jobs for hundreds of workers.
Additionally, the approval of this OPEC loan would have a positive influence on related loan applications which are pending with other institutions, such as the Kuwaiti Fund.
The approval of other feeder road loan applications would allow the government to embark on the repairs and construction of a greater number of roads than what was previously conceived.
The Government is expected to spend over EC$52 million on the agricultural feeder roads during the next 12 or so months.
According to officials from the Ministry of Finance, the speed with which this loan application was dealt with and approved was in large part due to the close working relationship between the Department of Economics and Technical Corporation, Ministry of Finance and the Grenada Embassy in Brussels. This close working relationship between various government departments and ministries exemplifies the new approach to mobilising international assistance by the government.
Following the electronic transfer of the application of the loan request by the Ministry of Finance in late March, on April 11th, under the clouds of ash from the erupting Iceland Eyjafjallajökull Volcano, which caused the closure of almost all of Europe’s Airport, Grenada’s Ambassador to the European Union, Stephen Fletcher, travelled from Brussels to Vienna (almost 1,000 km) on train in order to meet with the Director General of the OPEC Fund, to further negotiate the project.
According to the officials, this act of patriotic pride and national commitment had a significant influence on the decision by the OPEC Fund to move expeditiously to assess review, and approve the loan request.
During this all day and all night travel, there was constant communication between the Ambassador and the Director of Economics and Technical Corporation, Ministry of Finance in order to ensure that the most vigorous and clinically professional presentation would be made to the fund.
The Loan is expected to be signed within the next six weeks and plans are being put in place for an early disbursement, in order to commence work across the island.
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