UGANDA - ACHWA 1 42 MW Hydro Power Project (AFDB-P-UG-FAB-009)

Regions
  • Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Uganda
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Pader District in Northern Uganda
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
U
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
Apr 24, 2024
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
ARPE Limited
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Energy
  • Hydropower
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)
$ 21.48 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)
$ 21.48 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)
$ 144.00 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 @ AFDB website

Updated in EWS Jan 3, 2025

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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 proposed financing focuses on the preservation and sustainability of development outcomes envisaged for this project by bolstering the financial viability of ARPE, preventing potential default and the possible interruption of ARPE’s services to the private sector.

The project company, ARPE Limited (“ARPE”), has built two cascading Hydro Power Plants totaling 83MW located in Pader District in Northern Uganda, namely Achwa 1 and Achwa 2. ARPE is an existing client of the Bank through the financing provided for Achwa 2 in 2017. Achwa 1 was financed using short term bridge loans maturing between 2024 and 2026. The proposed refinancing for the short-term bridge loans will resolve the debt maturity mismatch vis-a-vis the economic life of the project and preserve the long-term financial sustainability of ARPE.

Key development outcomes expected to be sustained include: i) preserve an essential input for businesses by sustaining an annual electricity generation of about 193.1 GWh and resulting in increased electricity supply to enterprises in Northern Uganda, a region characterized by extremely low electrification; ii) to support electricity supply to potentially 280,000 people in rural and underserved areas; iii) Sustain the contribution to CO2 emissions avoidance with an is estimated at 94 ktCO2 e annually and the total over lifetime is 3,761.5 ktCO2 e; iv) sustain USD 38.1 million in taxes.

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 by the AfDB, ARPE, an existing client of the Bank, is majority (80%) owned by Africa Renewable Energy Fund (“AREF”). A 20% stake belongs to SIPA Holdings, a Joint Venture of PAC SpA (51%) and Simest SpA (49%). AREF is a USD 205 million renewable energy fund established in 2014, with AfDB and SEFA as founding investors and is managed by Berkeley Energy, a renewable energy fund manager investing in African and Asian markets.
PAC is an Italian-based construction company focused on the design and construction of large infrastructures and civil engineering projects. It is family-owned by two brothers Riccardo Parolini (50%) and Mario Parolini (50%). PAC also acted as the civil works and hydromechanical equipment contractor for Achwa 1 and 2 projects.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
Berkeley Energy Corp. Parent Company Finance owns ARPE Limited Client Energy
PAC SpA Contractor Construction invests in ARPE Limited Client Energy
Simest SpA Contractor Construction contracts with PAC SpA Contractor Construction

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:

Daniel Gitahi Ndegwa
Email: d.ndegwa@afdb.org

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/

How it works

How it works