Taiwan gives E27m towards three govt projects
02/07/2015 03:00:00By Noxolo Nkabinde
The Republic of China on Taiwan has donated US$2,285 316 (approximately E27 million) to the Swazi government for three projects under the ministry of economic planning.
Taiwan Ambassador to Swaziland Thomas Chen said yesterday the money was donated towards the rural electrification project, the biotechnology park, and the digital orthophoto mapping project.
“On behalf of my government, I am very delighted to present financial assistance for the following three projects. The first payment is for the 2015 rural electrification project which will be worth US$1,200,000. The second one will be for Certificates 11,12 and 13 of the biotechnology park-infrastructure development, Lot 2 which will be worth US$968,516 while the last one will be for the second payment of the digital orthophoto mapping for swaziland project, which will be worth US$116,800.
“Our total donation for today is US$2,285,316. The rural electrification project is an ongoing project that started back in 2001. Through our joint efforts, the Swaziland national electricity access rate had reached 66% by March 2015,” he said.
Chen said the current project comprised of 19 electricity schemes with a total of 2,749 households to be connected to the national electricity grid. The project benefits many homesteads in the rural areas by not only lighting up their homesteads at night, but also narrowing the social gap between the rural and urban communities and thus contributing towards poverty alleviation.
Infrastructure
The biotechnology park is also an ongoing project. The ambassador said they had learnt that 95% of the infrastructure development on Lot 2 had been completed by May 2015, through the partnership with the ministry of ICT.
“This project will play a vital role for the Kingdom’s economic development. It will not only generate many jobs by attracting foreign direct investment and stimulating industrial synergy, but will also increase tax revenue and enhance local welfare,” he added.
Meanwhile, he said the support for the digital orthophoto mapping project originated from the fact that the country was a developing one in which a lot of exciting changes were taking place. The presentation was attended by Minister of Economic Planning and Development Prince Hlangusemphi, representatives from the ministry of natural resources and energy, ministry of information communication and technology, amongst others.