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

On January 4, 2013, China Eximbank and the Government of Cote d'Ivoire signed a preferential buyer's credit (PBC) agreement worth $500 million USD (239 billion CFA) for the 275MW Soubré Hydroelectric Dam Construction Project (see source #121222, #136768). The PBC carries the following borrowing terms: 2% interest rate, 20-year maturity, and 9-year grace period (see Chinese Loans to Africa Database). 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. According to the Government of Cote d'Ivoire's Aid Management Platform, 73.4% of the face value of the China Eximbank loan (183,556,427,000 CFA of 250,000,000,000 CFA) that supported this project was disbursed as of February 2018.This 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 Abidjan and the expansion of 4 electricity transformers. Sinohydro was the contractor responsible for implementation. It, in turn, Sinohydro 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. This project was originally scheduled to last 56 months. Beginning in February 2013, the turbines began manufacturing in Tianjin, China. Construction began on September 24, 2013. The project had achieved a 30% completion rate by October 2014, a 74% completion rate as of March 2016 and a 100% completion rate by the end of March 2017. It was officially completed and handed over to the Ivorian authorities on November 2, 2017. 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. This project was also finance by a 2013 interest-free loan (see Project #66198).

Additional details

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.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.

Number of official sources

24

Number of unofficial sources

29