The General Establishment for Transmission and Distribution of Electricity has signed, together with the Ministry of Finance, a sub-agreement for a World Bank grant worth 146 million US dollars to rehabilitate and improve electricity transmission in Syria.
The document, which was signed on 24 December at the Ministry of Energy, aims to regulate the mechanisms for implementing the grant, which will be used to maintain and upgrade the electricity transmission and distribution networks as part of a broader plan to rehabilitate the country’s power infrastructure.
The Ministry of Finance is the regulatory framework responsible for managing and disbursing the World Bank grant allocated to rehabilitating and improving the electricity sector.
This agreement covers financing a project to rehabilitate and develop the electricity transmission and distribution system, particularly in terms of regional interconnection between Syria and Jordan, which includes the construction of 400 kilovolt interconnection lines, and conventional interconnection between Syria and Turkey. This, according to Finance Minister Mohammed Yisr Barnieh, as quoted by the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), will help expand the grid and increase available capacity.
Barnieh explained that this grant is the first of its kind that the World Bank has provided to Syria in nearly 40 years, and that it represents a positive step toward securing additional grants in the coming years to rehabilitate various sectors such as health, environment, water, and education. He noted that there are projects currently under discussion with the World Bank for possible financing.
Project components financed
In addition to the regional interconnection, the rehabilitation project will include refurbishing several substations at different voltage levels in areas that have seen a large-scale return of displaced people, particularly in the rural areas of Aleppo and Idlib provinces (northern and northwestern Syria) and in Rural Damascus (the countryside surrounding the capital), according to Khaled Abu Di, director of the General Electricity Establishment. He indicated that this would have a positive impact on the reliability of the electricity grid and that all citizens in the various provinces would benefit from these projects, given that the transmission network is connected in an integrated loop.
The project will also provide spare parts and maintenance equipment to support operations and rehabilitate the damaged network, and to ensure continuity of the electricity supply. It will further provide technical assistance and capacity building through drafting key sector strategies and policies, regulatory reforms, and medium and long-term investment plans to ensure the sustainability of electricity services. In addition, it will offer technical support to the institutions responsible for electricity in Syria to implement these strategies, improve the efficiency of management and operations, and develop an integrated transmission and distribution system that helps reduce frequent outages.
World Bank grant
In late June, the World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved a grant of 146 million US dollars from the International Development Association (IDA) to help Syria restore a reliable and affordable electricity supply and support the country’s economic recovery.
At the time, Jean-Christophe Carret, the World Bank’s Regional Director for the Middle East, said that among Syria’s urgent reconstruction needs, rehabilitating the electricity sector had emerged as a vital investment to improve living conditions for the Syrian people, support the return of refugees and internally displaced persons, and enable the resumption of other services such as water and healthcare. It would also help drive economic recovery, he added, noting that this project represents the first step in a plan to increase World Bank support for Syria on its path toward recovery and development.
Syria’s electricity sector has suffered extensive damage to its infrastructure during the years of war, and the new government in Syria has pledged to improve the electricity supply situation.
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