A delegation of Lenders flew into Honiara last week, marking the first face to face supervised Lenders mission for the Tina River Hydropower Development Project since prior to COVID-19 and the closing of international borders.
Representatives from the World bank (WB), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Korea Eximbank (EDCF), Australia Infrastructure Fund for the Pacific, (AIFFP), Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade ( DFAT) of the Australia Government spent from the 1st to 15th of July in Honiara and the Tina catchment areas on the supervision Mission to check on the progress for implementation of the Project.
For the last two years, the Project continued to conduct missions virtually due to the international borders being closed so the 15 day in country gathering was much welcomed after working for so long in difficult circumstances. The scheduled activities provided a great opportunity for the Lenders and Partners to see first-hand the progress and better understand the challenges facing the Project at implementation stage.
During the visit, the Lenders and Partners met with Government representatives including the Project Steering Committee, a Government Body responsible for overseeing progress and addressing any issues.
The delegation also met with the Australian High Commission, who play a crucial role and are important partners of the Solomon Islands Government on the Project. Both SIG and Australia reiterated their commitment to the Project and conveyed that now, the main focus should be on achieving the Project objectives and ensuring it remains a top priority of every stakeholder including the lending agencies. It also provided a good opportunity for both Governments to reinforce to Lenders the Project's main objective; to achieve a cheaper electricity tariff and reliable energy for the people of Solomon Islands.
The lenders mission ends this week.