NDB focuses on green energy and infrastructure as project pipeline grows

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By CGTN's Lin Nan

Kundapur Vaman Kamath, the president of the New Development Bank (NDB), has told CGTN his biggest challenge over the institution's first two years was getting the foundations right.

The lender, which has recruited nearly 100 talents from all over the world, received 2.5 billion US dollars in equity in its first two years of operation. The bank completed its first bond issue in China last year, and is planning to issue more IOUs in member countries later in 2017. The NDB is also looking to raise funds from global currency markets after getting its international rating.

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The institution has provided 1.5 billion US dollars in funding for seven projects that were approved in 2016, and the pipeline for 2017 and 2018 remains strong. Currently 23 projects for a total lending of six billion US dollars are at various stages of preparation in China, India, Brazil, Russia and South Africa.

The projects are in the green, sustainable energy and infrastructure construction sectors. The NDB is likely to back projects that are beneficial to rural areas, for example road building and water supply.

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The NDB has a strong pipeline of projects in China, which also focus on green energy and infrastructure construction. Projects in China provide very important lessons to the NDB because what China is facing today, other countries will face tomorrow. And the NDB hopes that it can learn from the experiences and use the knowledge elsewhere.

The institution aims to scale up operations and has targeted 10 billion US dollars in capital by the end of 2021, to establish the NBD as a reliable and innovative development partner with member countries and other development institutions.

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