TDB disburses energy projects loan Mr James Kabuga

Kudakwashe Mhundwa
The Trade and Development Bank (formerly PTA Bank) has begun the disbursement of a syndicated $150 million loan for energy projects in the country.Regional director for the TDB Harare Regional Office Mr James Kabuga said all the legal documentation around the loan facility had been completed paving way for the disbursements.

The energy project, which will result in capacity enhancement for Kariba and Hwange Power stations, is expected to be completed in 24 months.

“It’s a syndicated loan. The principal lenders are TDB, Standard Bank of South Africa and Stanbic Namibia.

“Locally we are working with Stanbic which is part of the Standard Bank of South Africa

“We are now in very advanced stages, we have done all the legal documentation we are now at the stage of disbursing the loan,” said Mr Kabuga, who is also TDB’s senior director for project and infrastructure finance.

“The project should take about 24 months to complete but the loans are very much long in terms of the tenure, it will be 5 or 6 years.

“The objectives of the program are to enhance capacity of both the Kariba dam and Hwange to enable the Zimbabwe Power Company (ZPC) to enhance their capacities and efficiencies in terms of energy production.”

Zimbabwe requires an average of 1 400 megawatts (MW) against current generation of 1 000MW.

The TDB, which established an office in Harare in 2009 currently has balance sheet of over $4 billion, which has risen from $1, 2 billion in 2012.

Mr Kabuga said to date, the bank has extended funding to the tune of $540 million to Zimbabwe both in terms of project and infrastructure financing and trade finance.

The regional financier has just completed a re-branding exercise from The Eastern and Southern African Trade and Development Bank (PTA Bank) to The Trade and Development Bank.

TDB director for corporate affairs and investor relations Ms Mary Kamari said this was necessitated by a number of institutional reforms that the bank had undergone over the past few years.

“We have sharply increased our capacity to meet the rising demand for the bank’s products and services, thanks to the strong funding and strategic partnerships and we have built up with investors.

“Our shareholder base has increased by more than 50 percent in recent years, with several new institutional investors and member states,” she said.

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