Announcement of Three Million Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars Power Loan in Sierra Leone on August 18, 1964

INTERNATIONAL BANK FOR • RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT 1818 H STREET, N.W., WASHINGTON D. C. 20433 TELEPHONE: EXECUTIVE 3-6360 Bank Press Release No. 64/31 Subject: $3.8 million power loan August 18, 1964 in Sierra Leone The World Bank today made a loan equivalent to $3.8 million for the expansion of electric power generating and distribution facilities in Sierra Leone. The loan will assist in financing a 13,200-kilowatt diesel power plant which will more than double the supply of power in Freetown, the capital city. This is the first Bank operation in Sierra Leone. Four commercial ·banks are participating in the loan, without the World Bank's guarantee, for a total of $240,000 representing the first two maturities and pa.rt • of the next four maturities which fall due between May 1967 and November 1969. The participants are Barclays Bank D.C.O., New York; Chemical Bank New York Trust Com- pany; Mead.ow Brook National Bank, New York; and The First Pennsylvania Banking and Trust Company, Philadelphia. The loan was made to the Sierra Leone Electricity Corporation, a newly estab- lished agency which has been given responsibility for the operation of all public power installations throughout the country. These now consist of two plants in Freetown with a total capacity of 9,800 kilowatts and 16 diesel stations in the Provinces with a total capacity of 4,100 kilowatts. Sierra Leone, on the west coast of Africa, has an area of 28,000 square miles and a population of some 2.2 million. About 250,000 live in Freetown and its en- virons. The greater part of the population is engaged in subsistence agriculture, • including fishing. Cash crops consist mainly of palm kernels, coffee and cocoa • In the past 10 years, minerals have assU1.:,ed an important role in the economy, with diamonds and iron ore accounting for - 2 - 80'/o of the value of' exports. Diamond produc- tion is. now falling, but production of bauxite has begun recently and rutile, a • titanium bearing mineral, is to be mined in the near future. There is limited use of electricity throughout the country. The largest demand is in Freetown, where power growth has averaged 161, annually in recent yea.rs and is expected to increase at a. rate of about 15% annually for the next several years. The project being assisted by the Bank comprises the construction of a new generatine station at King Tom Point in Freetown and the expansion of distribution facilities. The station will be equipped with two 6,6oO-kilowatt generators, associated switch gear, fuel storage tanks and ancillary works. Provision is being made for the later installation of a third unit, which may be necessary by 19(58. The King Tom station is already under construction and is scheduled for com- pletion in 1965 at a total cost estimated at the equivalent of approximately $5 • million. The expansion of the distribution system will be carried out mainly du.ring 1965. The project is being built under the supervision of consultants. The loan is for a term of 20 years and bears interest at the rate of 5#1, per annum. Amortization will begin in May 1967. The loan is guaranteed by Sierra Leone. •