Cameroon Kribi Gas Power Project
The Kribi Gas Power project (“Kribi”) was the first infrastructure project in Cameroon to raise long-term, local currency commercial financing on a project finance basis. This came from innovative structuring and a first-time variant of International Development Association (IDA) loan guarantees to cover local lenders. By opening access to long-term financing in local currency, IDA paved the way for deploying local capital for infrastructure projects in the subregion.
Kribi consists of the development, construction and operation of a 216 MW natural gas-fired power plant located near Mpolongwevillage, nine kilometers north of the coastal city of Kribi in the South Province of Cameroon. The project includes the construction (with substations and transformers) of a new 100-kilometer 225-kilovolt transmission line between the Kribi power plant and the Mangombe225/90-kV substation at Edéain Littoral Province.
The project is Cameroon’s second independent power plant (after DibambaHFO 88 MW, financed in 2010).
PROJECT MILESTONES
A World Bank Group (WBG) intervention mobilizes private investments for energy supply in a fragile and post-conflict country following the Ebola crisis.
A combination of WBG instruments leverages the project finance required to develop the WAPGP.
WAPGP will address chronic power shortages and provide year-round baseload generation capacity.
The project complements the ongoing power sector policy dialogue between the WBG and the Government of Sierra Leone. This focuses on improving the operational and commercial performance of the sector.