China Eximbank provides Ghana $260 million preferential buyer’s credit for Kpong Water Expansion Supply Project Phase I

On September 20, 2010, China Eximbank and the Government of Ghana’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning signed a $260,000,000 preferential buyer's credit (PBC) agreement for the Kpong Water Expansion Supply Project. The PBC carries the following terms: 21.25 year maturity, 5 year grace period, 2% interest rate, 0.75% commitment fee, and 1% management fee. The total project cost is $273 million. China Eximbank covered 95% of the total project cost and the Government of Ghana covered the remaining 5% ($13 million). The Government of Ghana used proceeds from the PBC to on-lend to Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), a Ghanaian state-owned company, a Ghanaian state-owned enterprise. To this end, the Government of Ghana signed a $276,250,000 subsidiary loan agreement with the GWCL on August 25, 2015. This loan carries a 15 year maturity and a 2% interest rate. The purpose of the Kpong Water Expansion Supply Project was to increase the supply of water from Kpong Head Works to Accra and Tema and thereby improve the reliability of potable water delivery to domestic, commercial and industrial customers. It involved construction of a new 353,000 m3 per day intake, expansion of treatment plant to 250,000 m3 per day and construction of new transmission mains through Dodowa, Adenta to Accra Booster Station. Other works involved the provision of dedicated electricity supply, distribution improvement and construction of terminal reservoirs at Madina, Boi and Okpong. The project was implemented in 3 phases. Phase 1 involved the construction of a new intake and water pumping station for bulk water supply from Kpong with capacity of 196,000 cubic meters per day. Phase 2 involved the construction of a new treatment plant of 186,000 cubic meters or 41 million gallons a day. Phase 3 involved the construction of new treated water pumping station as well as a pressure transmission (mains) system from Kpong to Accra through Oyibi to terminate at Okponglo (a suburb of Accra. The project beneficiary areas included Adenta, Madina, Kwabenya, Ashongman, North Legon, East Legon, West Legon, Ashaley Botwe, Haatso, Boi, Asofaa, Dome and surrounding areas. China Gezhouba Water and Power Group Company Limited was the contractor responsible for implementation. Its work was overseen by Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL). Construction began on June 1, 2011 and official project completion ceremony took place on December 23, 2014. However, the project was not fully complete until May 28, 2015. The originally scheduled contractual completion date was June 2015.It was reported that Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL) is negotiating a financing arrangement with China Eximbank in 2019 to fund the second phase of this project.

Additional details

The Chinese project title is 凯蓬供水扩建工程项目 or 加纳凯蓬供水项目. In the database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in July 2020, it records the maturity length of this loan as 15 years. However, AidData records a maturity length of 20 years since multiple official sources cite this figure and Ghana’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning identified the loan agreement date as September 20, 2010 and final maturity date as January 21, 2031.

Number of official sources

15

Number of unofficial sources

3