The World Bank has approved a $90 million (£57.5m) loan to support an energy efficiency project in Belarus.

The cash will help finance the reconstruction of two combined heat and power plants (CHP) in the cities of Gomel and Mogilev, with efficiency of the plants expected to increase by 15-30% and carbon emissions estimated to reduce by around 250,000 tons every year.

As a result of the current loan and a previous $125 million (£610.2m) financing for the project in 2009, around 145MW of electric capacity is being installed.

Although Belarus has increased its energy efficiency since 1990, it is still lagging behind many EU countries, according to the World Bank.

Pekka Salminen, World Bank Task Team Leader for the Project said: “The main benefit of the project is the improvement of energy efficiency in heat and power generation, benefitting 120,000 people. Moreover, increased energy efficiency will help mitigate the impact of increases in residential energy prices in the future and will result in reduced greenhouse gas emissions from the heat supply facilities.”

The World Bank has invested around $955 million (£610.2m) in Belarus so far.