(Seychelles News Agency) - Seychelles has secured a $320,000 grant to help improve electricity, water and sewage treatment services in the island nation. 

The technical assistance grant was funded by the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, BADEA. 

The money will be directed to the Public Utilities Corporation to help improve the company’s service delivery, the Seychelles' finance minister said on Monday.

“The Public Utilities Cooperation plays a pivotal role in providing utility services to households across the country, therefore such an investment which will be used to fund the services of an expert in the aspect of business administration and marketing,” said Jean Paul Adam.

Adam was speaking at the opening of a meeting of the BADEA board of directors, where he joined its chairman Yousef Ibrahim Albassam to sign the agreement providing the grant to Seychelles.

The chief executive of PUC, Philip Morin, told SNA that after being in existence for 30 years there is a need to modernize its human resource capacity, especially when it comes to customer services.

“The best way to do this is to have an expert who will identify the strengths and weaknesses, look at what training is needed and whether this is available locally and if not see what can be done to help improve our services,” Morin told SNA.

The grant money is expected to fund the services of the expert over a two-year period.

Seychelles is among 10 African countries whose requests for funding for various projects and technical assistance are expected to get BADEA approval at the two-day meeting being held at the Kempinski Resort in the south of the main island Mahé.

The BADEA board of directors usually meets four times in a year to discuss on such matters. The Seychelles meeting is its second for the year.

BADEA activities in Seychelles as well as relations between the African financial institution were also discussed on Tuesday during a meeting between the chairman of the BADEA board of directors Yousef Ibrahim Albassam and the Seychelles President James Michel. 

Ibrahim Albassam said to SNA that his discussions with Michel also focussed on Arab-Seychelles relations.

“I am from Saudi Arabia and also discussed the activities of the Saudi Fund for Development and also the excellent relations between Saudi Arabia and the Seychelles.”

The Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa has been involved in funding projects in Seychelles since 1980 and has since provided assistance to the extent of over $90 million to the country.

This includes money for housing projects and utility infrastructure, where the Public Utilities Corporation also benefitted from a joint loan from BADEA and the Saudi Fund late last year for an ongoing project to have a 33KV transmission and distribution electricity network for the southern region of Mahé.