Virunga Power (IFC-608336)

Regions
  • Africa
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Burundi
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
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."
Borrower
Regie de Production et de Distribution d'Eau et d'Electricite, Virunga Power Holdings Ltd.
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Energy
  • Technical Cooperation
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Advisory Services
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 1.00 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)
$ 1.00 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.
Other Related Projects
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ IFC website

Updated in EWS Jul 2, 2024

Disclosed by Bank Jun 13, 2024

Contribute Information
Can you contribute information about this project?
Contact the EWS Team

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 on the project disclosure page, Virunga Power Holdings Limited and International Finance Corporation entered into an agreement under which IFC will support the development of a new greenfield distribution utility in Burundi.

Virunga is the developer of the project, and IFC will fund up to US$ 1 million of early-stage development activities and provide technical assistance, subject to ongoing compliance with IFC Performance Standards. The new utility, Weza Power, will be a private-sector electricity distribution company operating at a national level in Burundi under the framework of a Public-Private Partnership. Access to electricity in Burundi is among the lowest in Sub Saharan Africa, and the country has one of the lowest GDP per capita in the world. Weza Power will bring clean, affordable, and reliable power, helping Burundi reach its universal access to energy goal.

Through this collaboration, IFC will work closely with Virunga, finance feasibility studies, support Environmental and Social activities, review bankability considerations, and carry out due diligence activities on other workstreams.

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 company's website, Virunga Power develops, invests in, and operates distributed renewable power generation and grid distribution projects that bring reliable and low-cost power to rural communities in Africa. 

Regie de Production et de Distribution d'Eau et d'Electricite is the water and electricity distribution company in the Republic of Burundi.

As stated on the company's website, Weza Power is a privately owned & operated electricity distribution company in Burundi.
It is working to connect 9 million people by providing electricity to residential & business customers across peri-urban and rural Burundi.
Weza Power is the first new private-sector electricity distribution company operating at a national level in sub-Saharan Africa for a decade. The Public Private Partnership (PPP) is financed by a blend of private and public funding, including commercial equity and debt, climate-based and other concessional funding, multilateral donor support, and private grants.

Private Actor 1 Private Actor 1 Role Private Actor 1 Sector Relation Private Actor 2 Private Actor 2 Role Private Actor 2 Sector
Regie de Production et de Distribution d'Eau et d'Electricite (Burundi) Buyer Energy contracts with Virunga Power Holding Client Energy
Weza Power (Burundi) Undisclosed Energy contracts with Virunga Power Holding Client 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.

No project contacts provided at the time of disclosure.

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

How it works

How it works