Efforts
to increase access to power infrastructure in Africa has received a boost with
a US$350million financing agreement between global infrastructure giant General
Electric and one of Africa’s leading financial institutions, Standard Bank. The
partnership seeks to provide affordable access to power infrastructure to
augment traditional large scale grid capacity development. The partnership will
target 10 priority countries: Nigeria, Angola, Tanzania, South Africa and Ghana.
Others are Kenya, Mozambique, Uganda, Ethiopia and South Sudan. Financing
activity will center on project finance, equipment finance, trade finance and
advisory.
The
program will be open to independent power producers (“IPPs”) and non-recourse
infrastructure projects, industrials and manufacturers, natural resource
companies, food and agricultural processors, small to medium enterprises
(“SMEs”), and other potential borrowers.
President
and CEO of GE Africa Jay Ireland said the partnership comes at the right time
when there are concerted efforts to boost access to energy across the
continent. He said partnerships of this nature would certainly support efforts
by respective governments in finding captive power solutions to meet the
growing demand for alternative fuels. Mr Ireland said this partnership is in
line with the country-to-company agreements, which GE has signed with a number
of African governments aimed at generating incremental power and increasing
access.
Mrs
Sola David-Borha, Chief Executive, Stanbic IBTC Holdings (Standard Bank trades
in Nigeria as Stanbic IBTC Holdings) said the bank was committed to
partnerships of this nature that help energize the sector. She said the power
challenges identified in the focus countries for this partnership were
opportunities for growth through sustainable investment. Mrs Sola David-Borha
also disclosed that through the partnership, financing will also be available
for off-grid solutions that rely on cleaner fuels such as biomass and biogas
across Sub-Saharan Africa.
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