Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On May 6, 2009, China Development Bank and the Government of Belarus signed an EUR 260 million loan agreement for the Minsk No. 5 Thermal Power Plant Upgrading Project. The loan's estimated borrowing terms include a 6.1693% interest rate, a 3.0941 year grace period, and a 10.7471 year maturity. However, it is known that the Government of Belarus issued a sovereign guarantee in support of the loan. It also known that the Government of Belarus on-lent the loan proceeds to a Belarusian state-owned energy company called Minskenergo RUE ( "Минскэнерго"). The proceeds of the loan were then used by Minskenergo RUE to finance a commercial (EPC) contract [№ 08ВY01GTI1EZG0005/144-и] worth EUR 208,274,600 that it signed with China National Corporation for Overseas Economic Cooperation (CCOEC) on September 29, 2008. The purpose of the project was to upgrade the 399.6MW Minsk-5 CHP CCGT Power Plant (Минская ТЭЦ-5), which is located at Pukhovichy district within the city of Minsk (Latitude= 53.612, Longitude= 27.954). North China Electric Power Engineering Company was the contractor responsible for project design. CCOEC (the EPC contractor) and Minskenergo RUE (a Belarusian state-owned power company) were jointly responsible for project implementation. At the end of December 2008, North China Electric Power Engineering Company completed the design of the project. Construction then began in 2009. The 399.6 MW power generation unit was successfully connected to the power grid on December 25, 2011. Then, it passed a 72-hour full-load trial on February 13, 2012. A project completion ceremony took place on February 17, 2012.
Staff comments
1. This project is also known as the First Stage of the Minsk CHPP-5 Construction Project, the First Phase of the Minsk CHPP-5 Construction Project, and the 399.6MW Minsk No. 5 Thermal Power Plant Upgrading Project. The Chinese project title is 白俄罗斯明斯克5号电站设 or 白俄罗斯明斯克5号热电站改造项目 or 明斯克5号热电站一期改建工程. The Russian project title is Минская ТЭЦ-5 or проектапервой очереди строительства Минской ТЭЦ-5. 2. Some official sources suggest that the commercial (EPC) contact was signed on October 29, 2008, and other official sources suggest that it was signed on September 29, 2008. 3. The Overseas Development Finance Dataset published by Boston University’s Global Development Policy Center in December 2020 identifies the face value of the CDB loan that supported this project as $260 million. It also identifies the loan commitment year as 2008. However, multiple official sources record the face value of the loan as EUR 260 million and identify the loan signature date as May 6, 2009. Therefore, AidData records a loan commitment value of EUR 260 million and a loan commitment year of 2009. 4. The estimated borrowing terms (6.1693% interest rate, 3.0941 year grace period, 10.7471 year maturity) are drawn from the World Bank's Debtor Reporting System (DRS). See https://www.dropbox.com/s/ab8qt4n6jijcbhd/IDS_Average%20interest%20on%20new%20external%20debt%20commitments.xlsx?dl=0 and https://www.dropbox.com/s/949n5rctiue6d7c/IDS_Average_grace_period_and_maturity_on_new_external_debt_commitments.xlsx?dl=0