BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Standard Bank Eswatini has announced that they will fund the Lower Maguduza Hydropower project, which is valued at E567 million.
According to a statement by the bank, the project, which is 13.5 megawatts (MW), is sponsored by African Clean Energy Development (Pty) Ltd (ACED), with African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM). The project is managed by the Public Service Pension Fund (PSPF) and an organisation known as IDEAS, both of whom are described as shareholders, according to the statement.
ACED will continue to provide construction management services. Energy Infrastructure Investment Managers Services (EIMS) will be both the contractor and the operation phase management services provider to the project. ACED CEO James Cumming said they were excited and proud to be part of this project and they were happy that they would be positively making a contribution towards achieving energy security in Eswatini.
Standard Bank Eswatini, according to the statement, would act as lead arranger for the transaction. The project is said to be playing a vital role in enabling Eswatini to generate power from its own natural resources, such as the Mkinkomo Dam, which is fed by the Lusushwana River. Generating power from its own natural resources would help Eswatini to rely less on imported electricity, driving the country towards being able to generate this product within the country.
Standard Bank is one of the countries that have undertaken to support Eswatini to achieve energy sovereignty. The bank, which sees itself as the leading banking partner for the renewables sector in Eswatini, sees the financing of this project as a commitment to driving the safe energy transition across the country.
The country currently imports about 80 percent of electricity from South Africa, with a smaller portion of that import coming from Mozambique. This development comes at a time when Emaswati will have to brace themselves for an increment of the price of electricity, which had been initially proposed at 25.99%. However, Eswatini Energy Regulatory Authority (ESERA) reduced it to 14.67%. However, Government intervened and further reduced it to 8%.
