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AKARTA: State-owned Bank Mandiri is receiving US$400 million in financing from the Agence Fran*aise de D*veloppement (AFD) and the Asian Development Bank to help finance environmentally friendly and socially-positive projects in the country.

Mandiri director Thomas Arifin said Wednesday that the bank had signed an agreement with AFD to channel $100 million in long-term loans to environmentally-friendly projects, worth a maximum of $15 million per project.

In addition, the bank is currently finalizing the documentation to secure $300 million of similar financing support from ADB for environmentally friendly projects.

"This is a breakthrough not only for Mandiri but also our banking industry. With this kind of financing support, we learn how to incorporate the environment into our assessment of projects," Thomas told The Jakarta Post recently.

Thomas explained that the kind of projects Mandiri was looking for include clean energy projects, geothermal power plants, wind power plants and projects that consume less energy or make use of renewable energy sources.

He said AFD had extensive experience in financing environmentally-friendly projects, especially in areas such as energy efficiency and conservation and different forms of renewable energy.

AFD's global experience includes financing a hydro electric project in Uganda, a gas power plant in Pakistan that uses environmentally friendly gas technologies and a wind power plant in South Africa.