NAIROBI: MAY, 8 2018 – Proparco a subsidiary of Agence Française de Développement (AFD) focused on private sector development, has arranged a €40 million financing to Sugar Corporation of Uganda Limited (SCOUL), Uganda’s third largest sugar manufacturing company, to finance a new 26MW cogeneration power plant.
This new power plant will allow the company to produce green electricity at a competitive price to meet its own needs and to be sold to the national grid. This facility was announced during a signature ceremony attended by the French Ambassador to Uganda, Stéphanie Rivoal.
For this operation, Proparco granted a €20 million loan and catalyzed funds from the Dutch development bank FMO, which contributed a similar amount to the project. The cogeneration unit will be fed by bagasse –a fibrous residue from the grinding of sugar cane.
It illustrates the company’s environmental approach, which is committed to recycling by-products and waste at each stage of its production. In recognition of its good environmental management, the company is ISO 14001 certified.
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The production of green electricity from biomass will directly contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goal #7 (Affordable and clean energy) in a country suffering from a low electrification rate.
This is Proparco’s second operation with SCOUL after an initial $23 million loan granted in 2012 that allowed the sugar company to increase its production capacity and expand its technical assistance to smallholder farmers. It testifies to Proparco long-term commitment to a company recognized for its environmental and social practices and to the development of agribusiness in Uganda.
It has been promoting sustainable economic, social and environmental development practices for the past 40 years. Proparco provides funding and support to both businesses and financial institutions across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle-East.
It seeks to partner projects in key development sectors – infrastructure (with a specific focus on renewable energies), agribusiness, financial institutions, healthcare and education – and to boost the contribution of the private sector to achieving the sustainable development goals adopted by the international community in 2015.
As a means to this end, Proparco finances businesses that are instrumental in creating decent jobs that pay decent wages, in supplying essential goods and services and in battling climate change.
