AKIPRESS.COM - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is continuing to support Kazakhstan’s green economy drive with a new loan to the local producer and distributor of construction materials, the Bank said in a release.

Alina Holding, a market leader in Kazakhstan, is a vertically integrated company engaged in extraction, production and sales of dry mixes, paints and other construction materials.

The EBRD Energy Efficiency and Climate Change team has conducted an audit of Alina’s production facilities and identified areas where energy can be saved, and the dust associated with construction materials production can be reduced.

Following the audit, the EBRD is now providing a loan in local currency, tenge, of up to €10 million, for an energy and resource-saving programme at Alina Holding’s key production facilities, and financing for capital investments and working capital needs.

EBRD Director for Kazakhstan, Janet Heckman, said: “Only recently in Paris, at the climate conference, we discussed the excessive energy intensity in the Caspian region including Kazakhstan. The Kazakh government, as well the EBRD, are committed to reducing energy use in both the private and public sectors of the country’s economy. I am very pleased that so soon after the Paris talks we are signing this loan with the largest domestic producer of construction mortars, Alina Holding.”

The EBRD is the largest non-oil and gas investor in Kazakhstan. To date, the Bank invested US$ 7 billion into the country’s economy.