Chinese Funds Launch Nigeria's $1 Billion Hydro Plant

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Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--A Nigerian hydropower project, first mooted in 1982 and continually stalled due to lack of funding, is now in a position to be launched.

Nigeria's president, Goodluck Jonathan, said that the government solved the funding problem for the $1 billion project by securing financing through a long-term credit facility from the Exim Bank of China on a debt-equity ratio of 75:25. The construction contract has been awarded to Sinohydro (SSE:601669) (Beijing, China).

Construction of the 700-megawatt (MW) Zungeru project in Niger state, on the Kaduna River, is expected to take four years. It will be one of the biggest power projects undertaken during the current president's administration.

Niger currently is the site for the 760-MW Kainji power scheme, commissioned in 1968; the 540-MW Jebba project, commissioned in 1978; and the 600-MW Shishoro project, commissioned in 1990.

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