Reuters News Agency reports that the International Finance Corporation (IFC) has announced a finance package totaling over US$200 million for the building of a power station in the Dominican Republic. The IFC, an affiliate of the World Bank lending funds for private sector development, has already extended loan guarantees for a power station in Puerto Plata.
The package consists of US$32.25 million that will be directly provided by the IFC, US$43.9 million from a syndicate of commercial and state banks, loans of US$15 million and DM15 million from the British and German governments, drawing rights worth US$10 million, a 10-year bond for US$50 million guaranteed by the U.S. Maritime Administration, and US$ 51.1 million from the plant’s constructors.
Assaad Jabre, an IFC spokesman, says that this expansion in power generation will significantly contribute to the reduction of a host of constraints on the country’s economic growth. The plant was developed and built by the U.S. companies Enron Development Corp from Texas and Smith Cogeneration from Oklahoma and has already been mounted on two barges.