Business News of Wednesday, 7 November 2012
Source: —
Plant
Project
will provide clean, safe water
to 500,000 residents in Accra
Washington,
November 7, 2012
– The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the political
risk
insurance arm of the World Bank Group, announced today it is supporting
an
investment that will supply 60,000 cubic meters of potable water per
day to
residents and businesses in the TeshieNungua area of Accra. The plant
will be
built on a 25-year build-own-operate-transfer basis and is expected to
benefit
approximately 500,000 people in one of the citys poorest areas.
Increased
water supply is urgently needed in the project area and many residents
lack
access to safe drinking water, says Izumi Kobayashi, MIGAs Executive
Vice President.
Were very pleased to be supporting this investment that will supply
water to
Accras residents and provide technical know-how in seawater treatment
to build
capacity in the country.
MIGAs
investment guarantees of $179.2 million are covering an equity
investment and
shareholder loan by Abengoa Group; an equity investment and shareholder
loan by
Daye Water Investment (Ghana), BV of the Netherlands; and a
non-shareholder
loan and interest-rate swap by Standard Bank of South Africa, Ltd. The
coverage
is against the risks of transfer restriction, expropriation, breach of
contract, and war and civil disturbance.
The
project is expected to help bring Ghana a step closer toward its
Millennium
Development Goal target for water. The country is only one of four in
sub-Saharan Africa on track to meet the goal, but significant
investment is
required over the next 10 years to help Ghana meet the rising demand
for water.
Were
pleased to be investing in a project that will increase the water
supply and
help reduce the prevalence of water and sanitation-related diseases,
including
cholera, that are currently affecting the area, says Mr. Takatsune
Hirayama of
Daye Water Investment (Ghana), BV., a subsidiary of the Japanese
Trading House
– Sojitz Corporation It will also eliminate the need to purchase water
from
water trucks, which is expensive and, moreover, the quality cannot be
assured.