The loan, from the International Development Association (IDA), the Bank's soft loans facility, is additional funding to cover the financial hole left by the project going over budget on building work and equipment.
The Bank claims that the loan will enable the scaling up of the higher education, science and technology programs, which includes the provincial scholarship fund, the competitive Quality Enhancement and Innovation Facility and the National Research Fund. Disadvantaged science students and top performers in science and technology will also benefit from the additional credit.
According to Xiaoyan Liang, World Bank Task Team Leader for the project, "this demand-driven financing seeks to complete and scale-up activities initiated in the previous credit, resulting in the enhancement of equitable access, quality and efficiency of the higher education system in Mozambique" The project's original IDA credit of 60 million US dollars was approved in March 2002. According to a release from the World Bank, the additional credit will support the original project's development objectives to: enhance internal efficiency, improve equitable access to higher education, and improve the quality of teaching and learning.
The loan is on standard IDA terms: it is to be repaid over a 40-year period, with a 10-year grace period.
SOURCE: AIM
