Standard Chartered Bank, a multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in London, has partnered with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to deliver a term loan worth S$60m to reduce Zambia’s power gap, All Africa reported.

The loan will finance capital expenditure for Zesco’s Lusaka Transmission and Distribution Rehabilitation Project (LTDRP), as well as provide bridge financing to facilitate new connections to the grid.

Zesco Managing Director, Victor Mundende, said the company’s strategic plan is to improve the quality of electricity and enhance connections to the national grid. “Standard Chartered continues to deliver on its commitment to bridge Africa’s power gap by facilitating, coordinating and arranging transactions which boost the capacity of national power grids and access to electricity across Africa,” Mundende said, according to Daily Mail Zambia.

This is the bank’s second Power Africa partnership to benefit Zambia, with the first being Standard Chartered’s Private Equity investment in Zambian Energy Corporation.