Dhiraagu II (IFC-43786)

Regions
  • South Asia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Maldives
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • Asian Development Bank (ADB)
  • 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
Approved
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
Oct 11, 2022
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
DHIVEHI RAAJJEYGE GULHUN PUBLIC LIMITED
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Communications
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 35.00 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.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 35.00 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 Nov 3, 2022

Disclosed by Bank Sep 1, 2022

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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.

According to IFC, the proposed investment involves a debt funding up to US$35 million to Dhiraagu to support the Company’s investment in the: i) international South East Asia–Middle East–Western Europe 6 (“SEA-ME-WE 6” or “SMW6”) submarine cable project, which will connect the Maldives for the first time to a major international cable system; and ii) working capital needs to fund capital expenditure (CAPEX) facilities at Maldives (the “Project”). More specifically, the IFC financing will:

  • Partially finance company’s investment in SMW6. The SMW6 project has about 15 beneficiary business entities or Parties as members of the international consortium that will own, manage, and monitor the SMW6 project through its life cycle. Dhiraagu’s investment in the core system is about 5% and is one of the 15 consortium members. The SMW6 core line is 13,329 km long and has five core landings (France, Egypt, Djibouti, India and Singapore) and seven branch landings (Malaysia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Pakistan, Oman and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia).
  • Fully finance company’s direct investment for the construction and operation of the Hulhumale branch of SMW6 international cable system. The branch line will be fully owned and funded by Dhiraagu in the SMW6 consortium. This branch is estimated to be 396km in length and will connect to the core system via a branching unit on the segment connecting Mumbai and Singapore. The landing site will be in Hulhumale in Maldives.
  • Finance the CAPEX items identified for building local telecom infrastructure not related to the international cable system SMW6; and 
  • Working capital requirements.
Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

The Project includes the Company’s future capex program including investments in a new submarine cable and general working capital needs. The Project will be partly financed by IFC A loan of US$35 million and an Asian Development Bank loan of US$30 million.

Private Actor Relationship
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

Current shareholding structure includes 52% by Bahrain Telecommunications Group (“Batelco”), 41.8% by Government of Maldives (“GoM”), and 6.2% listed for trade in Maldives Stock Exchange.                                             

Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

Dhivehi Raajjeyge Gulhun Public Limited (“Dhiraagu” or the “Company”), is the largest mobile network operator, broadband and digital service provider with more than 50 percent market share in the Maldives (https://www.dhiraagu.com.mv/). The Company offers a comprehensive range of mobile, internet, data, fixed line, and digital television services throughout the Country. Dhiraagu is listed on the Maldives Stock Exchange with a market capitalisation of US$502.7 million (as of 12 December 2021). 


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.

Dhivehi Raajjeyge Gulhun Public Limited
Dhiraagu Head Office, Ameenee Magu, P.O. Box 2082, 20403, Male, Maldives

https://www.dhiraagu.com.mv/

 

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit a request for information disclosure at: https://disclosures.ifc.org/#/inquiries

If you believe that your request for information from IFC has been unreasonably denied, or that this Policy has been interpreted incorrectly, you can submit a complaint at the link above to IFC's Access to Information Policy Advisor, who reports directly to IFC's Executive Vice President.

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF IFC/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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