Washington, July 10, 2013 - The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the political risk insurance arm of the World Bank Group, is helping Angola address its severe energy deficit through its support for the expansion of the Cambambe hydroelectric power plant. MIGA is providing non-honoring of sovereign financial obligations cover of $512 million to the project’s lenders for a period of 13 years.
HSBC Bank plc, Société Générale, and BHF-Bank Aktiengesellschaft have arranged €300 million in debt financing to the government of Angola for the Cambambe plant, one of two hydroelectric power stations operating on the Kwanza River. The expansion involves the construction of a second powerhouse with four additional turbine generators with a total additional capacity of 700 megawatts on the basis of an engineering, procurement, and construction contract awarded to Odebrecht SA of Brazil. The project is part of a larger rehabilitation and expansion program aimed at increasing Angola’s generation capacity from around 1,500 megawatts to over 5,000 megawatts.
“Despite vast indigenous energy resources, Angola remains one of the most energy-starved countries in the world,” says Laurence Clarke, the World Bank Country Director for Angola, Mozambique, and Sao São Tomé and Principe. “Harnessing the country’s significant hydropower potential will provide an affordable and sustainable source of electricity to underpin Angola’s efforts to build a more resilient and diversified economy.”
“Angola has achieved significant GDP growth, but less than 30 percent of the country’s population has access to electric power,” says Michel Wormser, Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of MIGA. “We are pleased to be supporting this critical project that will boost the country’s installed power generation capacity by more than 30 percent.”
“MIGA’s participation in this transaction was critical to helping us mobilize the long-term debt financing to complete this project,” says João Baptista Borges, Minister of Energy and Water of Government of Angola. “This project will bring us one step closer to realizing the ambitious goals we have set out in our national development strategy for the energy sector.”
The expansion is expected to be completed by 2017.
