China Eximbank provides $500 million preferential buyer's credit for 275MW Soubré Hydroelectric Dam Construction Project (Linked to Project ID#66198)

On January 4, 2013, China Eximbank and the Government of Cote d'Ivoire signed a preferential buyer's credit (PBC) agreement [CHINA EXIMBANK PBC 2012 NO. (48) TOTAL NO. (236)] worth $500 million (CFA 250 billion) for the 275MW Soubré Hydroelectric Dam Construction Project. The PBC carries the following borrowing terms: a 2% interest rate, a 20-year maturity, and a 9-year grace period. This agreement was ratified by the Government of Cote d'Ivoire on March 18, 2013 (Decree n ° 2013-178). The proceeds of the loan were to be used to finance approximately 85% of the cost of a $572 million EPC contract with Sinohydro Corporation Ltd. According to the Government of Côte d'Ivoire’s Aid Management Platform (AMP), the China Eximbank loan had achieved a 93.1% disbursement rate (CFA 232,850,661,397.89 out of CFA 250,000,000,000) as of December 31, 2020. China Eximbank made 25 loan disbursements (worth CFA 232,850,661,397.89) between 2013 and 2020: a CFA 63,779,413,333.33 disbursement on September 24, 2013, a CFA 10,584,030,666.89 disbursement on April 3, 2014, a CFA 6,568,236,306.44 disbursement on June 10, 2014, a CFA 7,847,244,298.65 disbursement on June 27, 2014, a CFA 4,866,422,531.80 disbursement on September 28, 2014, a CFA 6,014,153,653.09 disbursement on October 30, 2014, a CFA 9,032,388,974.69 disbursement on November 28, 2014, a CFA 3,789,607,696 disbursement on March 31, 2015, a CFA 7,284,855,283 disbursement on June 30, 2015, a CFA 8,526,743,819 disbursement on August 31, 2015, a CFA 3,872,029,423 disbursement on March 31, 2016, a CFA 4,775,119,445 disbursement on June 30, 2016, a CFA 3,079,102,939 disbursement on August 31, 2016, a CFA 5,330,356,102 disbursement on November 30, 2016, a CFA 11,456,420,368 disbursement on December 31, 2016, a CFA 9,172,889,950 disbursement on June 30, 2017, a CFA 17,577,412,613 disbursement on August 31, 2017, a CFA 8,230,933,159 disbursement on November 30, 2017, a CFA 7,672,152,137 disbursement on January 31, 2018, a CFA 1,742,198,324 disbursement on April 30, 2018, a CFA 2,375,371,988 disbursement on May 31, 2018, a CFA 2,886,617,772 disbursement on January 31, 2019, a CFA 1,617,818,440 disbursement on April 30, 2019, a CFA 12,707,600,442 disbursement on October 31, 2019, and a CFA 12,061,541,733 disbursement on December 31, 2020. The project involved the construction of the 275MW Soubré dam and hydroelectric power plant located near Naoua Falls on the Sassandra River in the Nawa Region. The dam was to have a maximum height of 20 meters, a length of 4.5 kilometers, and a storage capacity of 83 million cubic meters. The project also involved the construction a 225 kV electricity transmission line from Soubré to Taabo, the construction a 225 kv transmission line from Taabo to Yopougon 2 (to serve the greater Abidjan area), and the expansion of the Soubré, Taabo and Yopougon substations. Sinohydro Corporation Ltd. was the general EPC contractor responsible for implementation. It, in turn, hired Alstom to design, manufacture, supervise installation, commission, test, and provide other services for three 90 MW Francis turbine-generator sets, a 5 MW Bulb turbine generator, and other related equipment. Dam construction supervision services were provided by TRACTEBEL. The project was originally scheduled to last 56 months. Beginning in February 2013, the manufacturing of the turbines began in Tianjin, China. Construction began on September 24, 2013. The project achieved a 30% completion rate by October 2014, a 74% completion rate by March 2016, and a 100% completion rate by the end of March 2017. The transmission lines from Soubré to Taabo and Taabo to Yopougon 2 were officially inaugurated in June 2017. The project as a whole was officially completed and handed over to the Ivorian authorities on November 2, 2017. However, the project did encounter several implementation obstacles related to the resettlement and compensation of populations affected by the dam, notwithstanding the fact that it was subjected to an ex ante environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA). Société des Energies de Côte d’Ivoire (CI-ENERGIES) — a state-owned asset holding company that is responsible for managing assets in the electricity sector — now operates the Soubré hydroelectric power plant.

Additional details

1. The Chinese project title is 苏布雷水电站 or 苏布雷水电站. The French project title is Barrage Hydroélectrique de Soubré or projet d’aménagement hydroélectrique de Soubré. 2. An official government portal source (#121222) says the face value of this loan is 239 billion CFA but the February 2018 AMP export says it is 250 billion CFA. It is unclear why this disparity exists between two official sources. 3. This project was also supported by an RMB 150 million interest-free loan that the Chinese Government issued in 2013 (as captured via Project ID#66198). 4. The system identification number for this project in the Government of Côte d'Ivoire’s Aid Management Platform (AMP) is 11200713738. The AMP project code is 762960155. 5. The AMP identifies the loan commitment date as January 9, 2013 rather than January 4, 2013. This issue merits further investigation. 6. The Ivorian point of contact for this project is Brahima DOSSO (bdosso@cinergies.ci). 7. The source of the disbursement information that is provided in the project description is the AMP. An additional/alternative source of information on disbursement amounts and dates is a September 21, 2015 letter from China Eximbank’s Concessional Loan Department to Mme. Niale Kaba, the Ivorian Minister to the Prime Minister for Economy and Finance (accessible via https://www.dropbox.com/s/ze7fni7npn60eym/Disbursement%20Data%20for%204%20China%20Eximbank%20loans%20to%20Ivory%20Coast.pdf?dl=0)

Number of official sources

31

Number of total sources

62