Ukraine to get from World Bank $109M in grants to restore, sustain energy sector

That’s according to the Ministry of Finance, Ukrinform reports.

On June 11, Minister of Finance Sergii Marchenko and World Bank’s Regional Director for Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus Arup Banerji signed the Letters of Amendment to the grant agreements under the World Bank's projects “The Housing Repair for People's Empowerment Project” (HOPE) and "The Restoration Project of Winterization and Energy Resources" (Re-PoWER Ukraine), the report explains.

The signing was in the framework of the Ukraine Recovery Conference being held in Berlin, Germany, on June 11-12.

Additional grant funding in the amount of $62 million under the HOPE project will be used for small and medium-sized repairs of residential buildings partially damaged as a result of Russian aggression. The HOPE project is aimed at addressing the urgent and critical needs for the repair of partially damaged individual and multi-apartment residential buildings in territorial communities under the control of the Government of Ukraine.

An additional grant of $47 million under the Re-PoWER project, which aims to restore basic services in the energy sector of Ukraine, will be used to provide Kharkiv residents with district heating services, namely the procurement and installation of heating equipment.

"Funds from international donors continue to be a key source of financing for social and humanitarian expenditures, as well as for the restoration and reconstruction of critical infrastructure. We are grateful to the World Bank team and partners for implementing projects aimed at providing our citizens with the necessary services in a timely manner, as well as eliminating the consequences of russian armed terror," said Minister of Finance Sergii Marchenko.

As reported earlier, these grants will be provided through the Ukraine Relief, Recovery, Reconstruction and Reform Trust Fund (URTF) which remains one of the main mechanisms for consolidating funds from development partners established by the World Bank to support Ukraine. The World Bank, through the URTF, has mobilized donor financial resources totaling about $1.8 billion to support Ukraine, of which Ukraine has already received $1.1 billion in grants to support critical healthcare, housing and transport infrastructure, support for agricultural producers, and to enhance the administrative capacity of the Government.