[29/July/2010]

SANA'A, July 29 (Saba)- The Parliament approved on Thursday the agreement of soft loan to finance the power project in rural areas, signed between Yemen and the French Development Agency, with an amount of Euro 37.5 million.

The approval came after the parliament's discussion of a report, submitted by the joint committee of the committees of services and development and oil, and after the commitment of the Minister of Electricity Awadh al-Socotri to the parliament's recommendations in this regard.

The parliament urged the ministry to submit quarterly reports on the level of implementation of the project funded by the outcome of this loan and the loan previously provided by the Islamic Development Bank, recently approved by the parliament.

On another hand, the parliament approved the loan agreement to finance the port of Socotra, signed between the Yemeni government and the Kuwaiti Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED), with an amount of about USD 40.8 million.

The parliament has discussed the report of the Joint Committee of the committees of transport and communications, development and oil, and in the session the government side, represented by Undersecretary of Transport Ministry for Maritime Affairs Ali al-Tabhi, committed to use the loan proceeds for the purposes allocated to it and implement the project according to the approved components.

The government side also committed to provide the parliament with quarterly reports on the level of implementation of the loan in order to monitor the implementation and assess the commitment to do so.

At this session also, the parliament continue to review the report of the Finance Committee on the draft law of income tax.

BA

Saba