The cash-strapped Swedish biofuel company SEKAB AB has in a meeting asked for Sida’s help to rescue its activities in Africa, Development Today has learned. A figure of SEK 100 million was mentioned by SEKAB.

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Tørnæs taps into IFU, DKK 1.2b into Danish state coffers

Danish Development Minister Ulla Tørnæs often says the private sector has top priority in development assistance. Yet since 2005, she has drawn DKK 1.2 billion from the aid-financed risk capital fund IFU to fund initiatives at home.

A major new study funded by Sida and written by academics from three Tanzanian universities points to the far-reaching impacts of biofuel plantations in Tanzania. The report warns of land grabbing by foreigners and water shortages, and calls for a moratorium on biofuel projects until a policy framework is in place.

IFU attracts new clients

Head of IFU Finn Jønck says the risk fund has managed to meet the demand for capital because the mandate of IFU has been narrowed down. But the financial crisis has created more demand for IFU funds.

SEKAB has made changes in the environmental study of the Bagamoyo biofuel plantation project in Tanzania without consulting the Swedish firm Orgut that wrote the original report. SEKAB submitted the report to Tanzanian authorities last December with Orgut’s name on it. Orgut now disowns the SEKAB report.

SEKAB ‘substantially altered’ biofuel study, kept Orgut’s name

Biofuel and aid: Sharp fronts over land and food as plantations expand

SEKAB: needs new investors, approached Sida for support

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