Africa infrastructure fund loans hit $1bn

The Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund (EAIF) says it has issued loans up to $1 billion for infrastructure development.

A statement said EAIF by last year, had signed eight new projects, bringing the loans to $1.04 billion. It is committed to $243 million in new loans to businesses in digital and telecommunications, energy generation, manufacturing, transportation and logistics and bulk storage. It can lend between $10 and $65 million to 10 infrastructure sectors.

In Nigeria, EAIF backed a project by Indorama Eleme to improve productivity and energy conservation at its Port Harcourt fertiliser plant. In August 2018, EAIF provided a $35 million loans to Indorama Eleme Fertiliser & Chemicals Ltd (IEFCL).

The transaction was part of the financing of a $1.1 billion expansion of the company’s fertiliser plant at Port Harcourt. The new plant was built alongside the facility. It doubled the company’s output yearly to 2.8 million metric tonnes.

EAIF had previously provided loans worth $48.8 million towards the construction of IEFCL’s first Port Harcourt fertiliser plant, which now operates at full capacity. It supports the Federal Government’s initiative to eliminate the importation of urea and to meet rising local demand for urea fertiliser.

Also, EAIF provided $30 million loans to the $865 million Azura-Edo plants and played a key role in structuring the financing.

Construction of phase one began in 2016 with power being first produced in May 2018.

The project won the 2015 Thomson Reuters PFI African Public/Private Partnership Award. The power plant supplies 3.7 million households (approximately 22 million people) and numerous businesses. Many consumers are able to access electricity from the national grid and at a lower cost than off-grid energy.