Multinational - Desert to Power Initiative - 225 KV Mauritania-Mali Power Interconnection and Related Solar Power Plants Development Project (AFDB-P-Z1-FA0-214)

Regions
  • Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Mali
  • Mauritania
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Kayes Region in Mali
Whenever identified, the area within countries where the impacts of the investment may be experienced. Exact locations of projects may not be identified fully or at all in project documents. Please review updated project documents and community-led assessments.
Financial Institutions
  • African Development Bank (AFDB)
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
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
Dec 14, 2023
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
Government of Mali, Government of Mauritania
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 Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 270.15 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)
$ 270.15 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)
$ 540.30 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.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ AFDB website

Updated in EWS Mar 2, 2024


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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.

As stated by the AfDB, the Multinational – Desert to Power Initiative – 225 kV Mauritania-Mali Power Interconnection and Related Solar Power Plants Development Project (PIEMM) is adopted by the Republic of Mali and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania in the context where the electricity sub-sectors in both countries faces significant challenges, including (i) a low electricity access rate; (ii) an electricity supply-demand gap; and (iii) a marked predominance of fossil fuel-based power generation in the energy mix. PIEMM will comprise three components: (A) Construction of Electrical Infrastructure; (B) Institutional Support; and (C) Project Management. It will be implemented over seven (7) years, from January 2024 to December 2030.

The project will benefit about 2.2 million people in Mauritania, 52% of them women and help to connect 80 000 new households in 150 agro-pastoral localities. The project will be implemented in Kayes Region in Mali and will benefit about 500 000 people, including 20 000 households in the 50 localities that will be connected to the network. In addition to the above-mentioned beneficiaries, the project will directly benefit the two countries’ governments (which will collect taxes from project activities) and the two national power utility companies which will improve their performance, as well as 60 professional entities (schools, training centres, health centres, handicraft workshops, women’s professional groups, etc.) in the localities covered by the project.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

The AfDB categorized the project risks as follows -
Environmental Category: 1
Climate Safeguards Categorization: 2

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

As stated on the companies' websites:

SOMELEC (Société Mauritanienne d'Électricité) was created in 2001 from of SONELEC (Société Nationale d'Eau et d'Électricité), created in 1975, which was responsible for the production and distribution and distribution of drinking water and electricity. SOMELEC is responsible for the production, purchase, transport, distribution and distribution and marketing of electricity in urban and peri-urban and peri-urban areas throughout the country.

At the institutional level, the Member States of the OMVS created the Manantali Energy Management Company (SOGEM) with the mission of carrying out the Manantali Energy Project, the operation of which is ensured by an independent Operator. Furthermore, SOGEM was responsible for the construction of numerous infrastructures in the energy sector such as rural electrification projects, in particular those of Mahina/Bafoulabé and the villages downstream of the Manantali dam in Mali, that of Bakel-Gouraye-Sélibaby in Senegal and Mauritania.
SOGEM also guaranteed the financing agreements signed or in the process of being signed for the future Gouina development project. In fact, these loans made to the States will be on-lent to SOGEM which will ensure their implementation as delegated project owner.

A player in the development and promotion of Mali's electricity sector, Énergie du Mali -SA is an industrial and commercial company.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - Société de Gestion de l’Energie de Manantali (SOGEM) Contractor Energy
- - - - Société Energie du Mali SA (EDM-SA) Contractor Energy
- - - - Société Mauritanienne d’Electricité (SOMELEC) Contractor Energy

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.

AfDB Team Leader:

Pierre Djaigbe
Email: p.djaigbe@afdb.org

Implementing Agencies -

Société Mauritanienne d’Electricité (SOMELEC):

Website: https://www.somelec.mr/

Société de Gestion de l’Energie de Manantali (SOGEM):

Website: https://www.sogem-omvs.org/

Energie du Mali SA:

Website: https://www.edmsa.ml/

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit an information request for project information at: https://www.afdb.org/en/disclosure-and-access-to-information/request-for-documents. Under the AfDBÕs Disclosure and Access to Information policy, if you feel the Bank has omitted to publish information or your request for information is unreasonably denied, you can file an appeal at https://www.afdb.org/en/disclosure-and-access-to-information/appeals-process 

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF AfDB

The Independent Review Mechanism (IRM), which is administered by the Compliance Review and Mediation Unit (CRMU), is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who have been or are likely to be adversely affected by an African Development Bank (AfDB)-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the IRM, it may assist you by either seeking to address your problems by facilitating a dispute resolution dialogue between you and those implementing the project and/or investigating whether the AfDB complied with its policies to prevent environmental and social harms. You can submit a complaint electronically by emailing crmuinfo@afdb.org, b.kargougou@afdb.org, b.fall@afdb.org, and/or s.toure@afdb.org. You can learn more about the IRM and how to file a complaint at: https://www.afdb.org/en/independent-review-mechanism/ 

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