China Eximbank provides $334.65 million preferential buyer’s credit for 240MW Kaléta Hydroelectric Power Plant Construction Project (Linked to Project ID#187 and ID#91941)

On January 4, 2013, the Export-Import Bank of China signed a USD $334.65 million preferential buyer’s credit (PBC) agreement [CHINA EXIMBANK PBC NO. (2013) 49 TOTAL NO. (437)] with the Government of Guinea for the 240MW Kaléta Hydroelectric Power Plant Construction Project. The PBC, which is captured via Project ID#53003, carries the following terms: 20 year maturity, 9 year grace period, 2% interest rate, and 0.3% management fee. The Government of Guinea used the proceeds from the PBC to on-lend to a project company and special purpose vehicle (SPV) called Société De Gestion de Kaléta (SOGEKA or 凯乐塔电站管理公司). The borrower (SOGEKA) was to use the proceeds of the PBC to finance 75% of the cost of a $446 million commercial (EPC) contract between China International Water & Electric Corporation and the Government of Guinea, which was signed on August 15, 2011. As of June 30, 2020 and December 31, 2020, SOGEKA’s outstanding repayment obligations under the China Eximbank PBC agreement amounted to $404.14 million. SOGEKA also signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the state-owned power utility, Electricité de Guinée (EDG), and agreed that once the Kaléta dam was operational, it would use the proceeds from the sale of electricity (generated by the dam) in order to facilitate the repayment of the China Eximbank loan. When SOGEKA was first established, the Government of Guinea held a 51% equity stake and China International Water & Electric Corporation held a 49% equity stake. However, on November 2, 2016, China Three Gorges Corporation purchased the Government of Guinea’s 51% equity stake for $200 million. The Government of Guinea used the $200 million to meet the requirement in a separate China Eximbank preferential buyer’s credit agreement (captured via Project ID#187) that covers 15% of the total cost ($1.383 billion) of the 450MW Souapiti Hydroelectric Power Plant Construction Project. The Kaléta Hydroelectric Power Plant Construction Project involved the construction of a 240 MW dam that is located 110 km north of Conakry on the Konkouré River. The facility includes a roller-compacted concrete dam 72 feet in height by 5,069 feet in length. The dam impounds a reservoir that has 23 million cubic feet of storage capacity and the facility’s powerhouse has three 80-MW vertical axis Francis turbines. China International Water & Electric Corporation — a subsidiary of China Three Gorges Corporation — was the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor responsible for implementation. Construction began on April 18, 2012. Kaléta dam began to fill water in April 2015. The turbines began to run and distribute electricity ahead of schedule on May 29, 2015. The power plant was constructed according to Chinese technical specifications, and 90% of its electromechanical equipment came from China. The dam was officially put into use on September 29, 2015. Then, an official project completion ceremony took place on October 10, 2015. As of January 31, 2019, the Kaléta hydroelectric power plant had generated 2.708 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity. It reportedly doubled Guinea's electricity supply. Electricity subsidies from the Government of Guinea increased to 0.8% of GDP during the first half of 2019 when the country’s state-owned electricity company, the Public Utility Company (EDG), started to pay for the electricity generated by the Kaléta Hydroelectric Power Plant in January 2019. On January 22, 2015, the Government of Guinea also authorized the ratification of a USD $78,064,538.90 loan agreement with China Eximbank for the Conakry Electricity Network Rehabilitation and Extension Project. The borrowing terms of this loan, which are captured via Project ID#91941, are unknown. However, it is known that the borrower was to use the proceeds of the loan to finance an amended and expanded version of the commercial (EPC) contract that China International Water & Electric Corporation and the Government of Guinea signed on August 15, 2011. The purpose of this project was to evacuate power from the Kaléta hydroelectric power plant by constructing and rehabilitating 42 km of transmission lines and several substations, including (1) a 110 kV double circuit transmission line between Matoto substation and Manéah (Maneah) substation; (2) a 225 kV transmission line between Kaléta substation and Manéah substation; and (3) Tombo substation. The project also involved the acquisition and installation of electronic metering devices. CWE was the general EPC contractor responsible for implementation. However, Guangxi Transmission & Substation Construction Company was also involved as a subcontractor. The commissioning of all substations and transmission lines was completed on July 29, 2015. The project’s one-year warranty period officially began on August 31, 2015. A project performance certificate was issued on September 9, 2016.

Additional details

1. The French project title is Centrale hydroélectrique de Kaléta. The Chinese project title is 凯乐塔水电站项目 or 凯乐塔水电站 or 凯乐塔水利枢纽工程 or 凯乐塔水电站. 2. The database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in July 2020 identifies the following borrowing terms (17-year maturity and 5 year grace period). However, AidData records a different set of borrowing terms. In correspondence with AidData’s Executive Director in October 2020, the National Director of Debt and Official Development Assistance at the Republic of Guinea’s Ministry (Mrs. DIALLO Saoudatou SOW) identified the borrowing terms of this loan: 20-year maturity, 9 year grace period, 2% interest rate, and 0.3% management fee. 3. In the database of Chinese loan commitments that SAIS-CARI released in July 2020, it identifies China International Water & Electric Corporation rather than China Eximbank as the lender; however, multiple official sources (including the Government of Guinea’s Ministry of Finance) identify China Eximbank as the lender. 4. In China’s Overseas Development Finance Dataset that Boston University's Global Development Policy Center published in December 2020, the China Eximbank loan commitment year is identified as 2011. However, multiple official sources identify the loan agreement signing (i.e. loan commitment) date as January 4, 2013. 5. The World Bank’s Debt Reporting System (DRS) indicates that official sector loan commitments from China to the Government of Guinea (and/or entities backed by Government of Guinea repayment guarantees) in 2013 amounted to $387,038,766.50. This amount is roughly equivalent to the sum of the $334.65 million loan that China Eximbank issued for the 240MW Kaléta Hydroelectric Power Plant Construction Project (captured via Project ID#53003) in 2013 and the $50 million loan that China Eximbank issued for the SOTELGUI Modernization and Expansion Project (captured via Project ID#64324) in 2013. 6. More research is needed to determine if the $334.65 million preferential buyer’s credit for 240MW Kaléta Hydroelectric Power Plant Construction Project was collateralized. 7. In 2017, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and China Eximbank pledged to fund the Republic of Guinea for the Lisan-Fomi-Kankan Electricity Transmission Line Project (see Project ID#64408) which is meant to transmit power generated by the Kaleta and Souapiti hydropower plants by constructing 225kV electricity transmission lines between Linsan, Fomi, and Kankan that are 393 kilometers in length.

Number of official sources

20

Number of total sources

34