South African Finance Minister Tito Mboweni on Wednesday declared the 4th annual meeting of the BRICS’ New Development Bank (NDB) held in Cape Town for the past three days to be “a resounding success.”
Three of the five new projects approved for funding by the bank’s board of directors are South African. The five projects brought the NDB’s project portfolio to more than US$9.2 billion, according to a ministerial statement issued on Wednesday.
In the statement, Mboweni said the three South African projects were separate from the loan agreements that the NDB signed on Monday with Eskom and the Development Bank of Southern Africa.
The loans for South Africa were targeted at renewable energy projects. For Eskom, the statement said, the loan would be used for renewable energy integration and a transmission augmentation project.
Under the agreement, the NDB will provide a sovereign-guaranteed loan to Eskom amounting to US$180 million, thereby integrating 670 megawatts of renewable energy onto the Eskom grid.
“The three new projects that were approved by the NDB board are for Eskom, the Industrial Development Corporation (US$80 million), and the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (US$220 million) for the implementation of Phase II of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project and financing the construction of water transfer infrastructure,” the minister said.
The NDB will provide a US$480 million project loan to Eskom for an environmental protection project for the Medupi Thermal Power Plant.
The proceeds of the bank’s US$80 million loan will be on-lent by the IDC to renewable energy sub-projects, contributing to the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, improvement of South Africa’s energy sector mix, as well as the increase of energy efficiency of the economy, he added.
NM/jn/APA