PPP model to get Rwanda water flowing in $61m project

KIGALI: The Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) yesterday announced the signing of the financing for a large-scale water treatment facility in Kigali, Rwanda.

It is the first bulk surface water supply in sub-Saharan Africa using a public/private partnership (PPP) model.

It is also one of the few sub-Saharan Africa water infrastructure projects being done on a build, operate and transfer (BOT) basis and is EAIF’s first water project in a big city.

The site for the new facility is at Kanzenze, south of Kigali. Water will be drawn from the Nyaborongo River to be treated before distribution to domestic, commercial and industrial customers.

The plant will have the capacity to supply up to 500 000 people in Rwanda’s capital, providing 40 million litres of fresh, clean water a day.

A member of the Private Infrastructure Development Group (PIDG), EAIF is mainly funded by the governments of the UK, The Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland, as well as private sector banks and FMO, the Dutch development bank and its German equivalent, KFW.

EAIF, the mandated lead arranger of the financing, is lending Kigali Water Limited (KWL) a fully-owned subsidiary of Metito, one of the world’s largest water infrastructure and utility providers, $19 million (R261m) of senior debt and $2.6m of junior debt. The African Development Bank is providing another $19mof senior debt. All of the loans are for 18-year terms.

The lenders are covering $40.6m of the capital cost of the $60.8m project. The balance will be provided as equity finance by Metito. The project also benefits from a $6.25mgrant from PIDG’s Technical Assistance Facility. – ANA