Umeme Capex [2019-2024] (IFC-41897)

Countries
  • Uganda
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • International Finance Corporation (IFC)
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
B
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
Jul 15, 2019
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
UMEME LTD
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Energy
  • Infrastructure
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 70.00 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.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 325.00 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 @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Jun 11, 2019

Disclosed by Bank May 30, 2019

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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.

The proposed investment is to provide debt financing for the 2019-2024 6-year capital expenditure program of Umeme Ltd. (“Umeme”, “the Company”), a regulated electricity distribution company in Uganda, supplying over 1.2 million customers mainly located in the semi-urban corridor linking Kampala, Entebbe and Jinja. Umeme was awarded a 20-year concession to manage and operate the assets of Uganda Electricity Distribution Company (UEDCL) in 2005. In 2009, IFC committed US$25 million in debt financing to support Umeme’s operations. Later in November 2012, IFC participated in an Initial Public Offering to support Umeme’s rehabilitation and development of its network. IFC also provided US$70 million in debt financing in 2013 and a further US$20 million in 2016 to support Umeme’s 2013-2018 capital expenditure program mainly involving the upgrade and expansion of medium voltage transmission lines and substations and through the introduction of pre-paid meters across its customer base. Through the proposed investment, IFC will support Umeme’s next 6-year capital expenditure program, which will mainly focus on (i) network upgrades to enable load growth and additional connections to support uptake of new generation, (ii) safety/reliability enhancements, and (iii) implementation of smart meters to continue improving collections and reducing commercial losses (the “Project”).

People Affected By This Project
People Affected By This Project refers to the communities of people likely to be affected positively or negatively by a project.

The Project will support the growing demand for electricity in Uganda, and contribute to ongoing efforts to increase access to electricity. This will help fulfill the Government of Uganda's efforts to improve electrification rate from the current 27% to 60% by 2027, and complement the significant growth (almost double) in generation capacity expected by 2020 (from 183MW Isimba and 600MW Karuma dams, and small solar/hydros). In addition, the Project has potentially significant indirect and induced effects on value added and employment as Umeme's network expansion plan focuses on zones with high electricity demand and economic growth potential. Finally, it will improve resilience of the main distribution network in Uganda and reduce losses, through adoption of advanced smart technologies, adequate maintenance and upgrade of ageing assets.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - UMEME LTD Client -

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.

Umeme Limited 
Selestino Babungi 
Managing Director 
+256 (0) 312 360622 
selestino.babungi@umeme.co.ug 
Kampala Uganda  
https://www.umeme.co.ug/ 

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC

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