Nachtigal (IFC-37673)

Countries
  • Cameroon
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Specific Location
Sanaga River, 65 km north-east from Yaoundé in Cameroon.
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
  • 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
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."
Borrower
NACHTIGAL HYDRO POWER COMPANY
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Construction
  • 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)
$ 145.52 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.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported 130 m euros
Converted using 2017-06-24 exchange rate.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 151.33 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)
$ 1,175.32 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.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported 1050m euros
Converted using 2017-06-24 exchange rate.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Nov 2, 2022

Disclosed by Bank Jun 19, 2017


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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 bank provided information, the Nachtigal-amont project is a greenfield 420 MW run-of-river hydropower project located on the Sanaga river near Yaoundé, Cameroon (the "Project”, "Nachtigal") and developed as an Independent Power Producer ("IPP").

As of April 2017, the plant is estimated to achieve full commercial operations by 2022. This would make it the first IPP to be built on the Sanaga river benefiting from the upstream Lom Pangar regulating dam. The Project benefits from the full support of the Republic of Cameroon who just signed and granted the 35-year concession to the project company.

The project is located in the Sanaga River, 65 km north east from Yaoundé (Cameroon). The project is being developed by Nachtigal Hydro Power Company (“NHPC”) whose shareholders are EDFI (40%), the Republic of Cameroon (30%) and IFC (30%). Construction of the project is estimated to cost around 1.05 billion EUR. In addition to IFC’s equity as project developer, the proposed investment is up to 130 million EUR A loan. IFC will also act as Global Coordinator for up to 650 million EUR of parallel loans in Euros or in local currency. The World Bank (WB) is engaged in the power sector in Cameroon providing advice on the Electricity Sector Development Plan covering the period 2015-2035 (“PDSE 2035”) and developing a Technical Assistance project for hydropower development on the Sanaga River that should also support Nachtigal and the overall sector framework. WB will provide a Partial Risk Guarantee (PRG) to this project.

Construction is organized in four separate engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor tenders: (i) civil works (LOT GC), (ii) installation of electro-mechanical equipment (LOT EM1), (iii) construction of high and medium voltage transmission lines (LOT EM2), and (iv) construction of NHPC base camp (LOT CE). Construction is expected to start in early 2018 and commissioning of the last turbine is expected in 2022. The project’s main components include:

  • A roller compacted concrete dam on the Sanaga River, comprised by an overflow section with a total length of 1455 m and maximum height of 13.6 m, and a non-overflow section with a length of 553 m and a maximum height of 16 m to create a 27.8 million m3 reservoir with a surface of 4.21 km2 at normal operating level.
  • A headrace lined canal about 3.3 km long and 14m deep on average to transfer water to the hydroelectric power plant with a maximum flow rate of 980 m3/s corresponding to the design flow of the hydroelectric power plant equipment.A hydroelectric power plant with an installed capacity of 420 MW (seven 60 MW Francis turbines able to operate either as a run of river plant or an intermediate peaking plant).
  • A secondary 4.5 MW power plant to generate electricity from the environmental flow (riparian release) to be discharged downstream of the d
  • A double busbar 225 kV generation substation and a 50.3 km 225 kV double circuit transmission line equipped with two bundle conductors to transport the power produced from the power plant generation substation to the Nyom 2 connection substation.
  • Spoil disposal areas for the temporary storage of approximately 1.8 million m3 of excavated material.
  • A quarry for the extraction of approximately 170,000 m3 of laterite.
  • A concrete plant to produce approximately 130,000 m3 of concrete.
  • 6.5 km of permanent roads to access the hydroelectric power plant and dam.
  • A temporary construction base camp with capacity for up to 1,500 workers.
  • A 1 ha temporary landfill for the sorting, pretreatment and disposal of non-hazardous solid waste generated by EPC contractors and NHPC offices and base camp.
Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

The total project cost is estimated at EUR [1.1] billion financed with c. EUR [0.8] billion in debt and c. EUR [0.3] billion in equity.

The debt tranche is to be funded with a combination of senior loans from Development Finance Institutions ("DFI") and local commercial banks supported by a World Bank Partial Risk Guarantee.

IFC is planning to provide a senior loan (A Loan for IFC’s own account) of up to EUR 130 million and to mobilize the rest of the debt package under its Global Coordinator role.

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.

The Project is developed by Nachtigal Hydro Power Company ("NHPC") incorporated in Cameroon. Its shareholders are the Republic of Cameroon, EDF International ("EDFI") and International Finance Corporation ("IFC"), with respective shareholdings of 30%, 40% and 30% in NHPC. IFC developed the Project under its global infrastructure project development fund IFC InfraVentures.

EDF International is a 100%-owned subsidiary of Electricité de France ("EDF") and is the holding company of EDF's investments abroad with more than twenty subsidiaries globally. EDF is a French electric utility involved in all segments of the energy value chain: generation, transmission, distribution, energy supply and trading. The group operates a diverse portfolio of more than 130 GW of net generation capacity in Europe, South America, North America and Asia serving 37.6 million customers in 2015. EDF is publicly listed on the Euronext Paris stock exchange. 

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
- - - - EDF SA Investor -
- - - - International Finance Corporation (IFC) Investor -
- - - - Nachtigal Hydro Power Company 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.

Contact Person: Florence Ardorino
Company Name: NHPC
Address: BP 35543, Yaounde, Cameroon
Email: florence.ardorino@nachtigal-hpc.com 
Phone: +237 690 800 780

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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