South African financial services company FirstRand will provide US$120mn to construct Ghanas Kpone power plant
The US$820mn plant will have a capacity of 340MW and help reduce an electricity shortfall of 200MW in Ghana, according to the Ghanaian government.
The facility will be set-up in the Greater Accra area, and is part of the Ghanaian government's efforts to bring up the capacity of the national grid to 5,000MW by 2016.
According to the government, the plant will run on gas, light crude and diesel, stated reports. Group 5, a South African company has been roped in as one of the contractors for the project.
Micheal Larbie, head of FirstRand in Nigeria stated that the investment banking unit of FirstRand will provide a loan which will be used to construct the plant. Rand Merchant Bank has also been chosen as the lead arranger for about US$400mn of commercial bank funding for the project.
Cenpower Generation Co. and other sponsors are providing US$250mn funding with an estimated US$200mn being sourced from development finance institutions.
