Bujagali Energy Limited (MIGA-3616)

Countries
  • Uganda
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
A
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Mar 4, 2018
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Bujagali Holding Power Company Limited
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Hydropower
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Guarantee
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 250.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ MIGA website

Updated in EWS Feb 14, 2019

Disclosed by Bank Jan 4, 2018


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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

This summary covers equity investment of up to $250 million by Bujagali Holding Power Company Limited (BHPCL)1 in the Bujagali Hydropower project. The investor has applied for a MIGA guarantee for a period of up to 20 years against the risk of breach of contract.

The project involves operation of a 255 megawatt, run-of-the-river hydropower plant on the Victoria Nile by Bujagali Energy Ltd. (BEL). The project was developed on a build-own-operate-transfer basis and reuses water flowing from two existing upstream facilities to generate electricity. The first generating unit was commissioned in February 2012, and the project reached full capacity in June 2012. The proposed investment is not expected to result in any change to the project's physical or operational footprint or to its current power transmission arrangements.

The Agency first supported this project in June 2007, when MIGA issued a guarantee totaling $115 million to World Power Holdings Luxembourg S.à.r.l. (WPH), an affiliate of Sithe Global (USA), to cover its investment in the construction of Bujagali hydropower project. The coverage was issued for a period of up to 20 years against the risk of breach of contract. MIGA subsequently increased its cover to $120.3 million in July 2012, following WPH's increase of its equity investment in the project.

On August 27, 2014, MIGA also issued guarantees totaling $9.5 million to Absa Bank Limited of South Africa and Standard Chartered Bank of the United Kingdom, two of the existing senior lenders for the Bujagali Hydropower project. The two lenders entered into a swap arrangement with Bujagali Energy Limited to hedge against long-term interest rate risk. MIGA's coverage on the lenders' swap was issued against the risk of breach of contract for a period of 11 years.

On June 10, 2016, MIGA also disclosed a Summary of Proposed Guarantee for SN Power's potential investment in the project.

The newly proposed guarantee would cover BHPCL's existing and new investments in the project.

Environmental Categorization

The project is a Category A under MIGA's Policy on Environmental and Social Sustainability. Click here to view the Environmental and Social Review Summary prepared by the IFC for their investment in the project.

Development Impact

Reliable and accessible electricity is critical for Uganda's social and economic development. Daily power shortages have stunted economic growth by an estimated one percent of the country's gross domestic product. The Bujagali project increased supply to the national power grid at the lowest cost compared to other power generation expansion options under Uganda's energy strategy, thereby reducing outages and costs.

In addition to MIGA's guarantee, the World Bank Group has been supporting the project with $130 million in loans from the IFC and a partial risk guarantee of up to $115 million from the International Development Association. The loan for IFC's own account will change to $100 million, following the refinancing, which is currently under way.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

No project contacts available at the time of disclosure

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF MIGA

The Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an IFC or MIGA- financed project. If you submit a complaint to the CAO, they may assist you in resolving a dispute with the company and/or investigate to assess whether the IFC is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. If you want to submit a complaint electronically, you can email the CAO at CAO@worldbankgroup.org. You can learn more about the CAO and how to file a complaint at http://www.cao-ombudsman.org/

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How it works