China pledges to loan $400 million USD to Tanzania for Kiwira coal mine

In August, 2009, then Prime Minister of Tanzania, Mizengo Pinda, announced that the Chinese government had pledged to provide a loan of $400 million USD to help address the Kiwira coal mine's (Chinese name: 基维拉煤矿) financial problems. In return, China would take 62% ownership and Tanzania would hold the remainder (38%). It is unclear if this deal was ever formalized in a signed financing agreement. Tanzania's 100% government-owned State Mining Corporation (STAMICO) and China National Complete Plant Import and Export Co., Ltd. (COMPLANT) were planned to be responsible for project implementation. Kiwira mine is run by the Kiwira Coal and Power Company, which is wholly owned by STAMICO. The construction of the Kiwira coal mine was initially undertaken in 1983 and completed until 1988. Coal production started in 1989 under STAMICO with technical support from the Chinese government. The generated 6MW of electricity. Then, in 2005, Kiwira was privatized and acquired by TanPower Resources Limited, a company made up of a consortium of local investors. However, as the mine performed poorly, the government decided to resume ownership in 2008, only to hand it back to STAMICO in 2013. This change in ownership delayed negotiations with the Chinese for this loan. STAMICO was reportedly still searching for investors to resume production and construct a 200 MW coal-fired power plant.

Number of official sources

6

Number of total sources

16