Essentially the consortium, formed by CA-Lyon of France and the Portuguese Investment Bank (BPI), is lending Mozambique the 700 million US dollars that it needs in order to purchase from the Portuguese government 67 per cent of the shares in Hidroelectrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), the company that operates the dam.
This will bring the Mozambican stake in HCB up to 85 per cent, while the Portuguese holding falls to 15 per cent.
The deal with the banks does not mean that they too will become shareholders in HCB.
"The consortium will not become a shareholder, and nor will the Mozambican state lose control over HCB, as many people have been saying", declared Namburete, cited in Saturday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".
The guarantees that the banks will recoup their money, Namburete said, are the contracts between HCB and its clients, the electricity companies of Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe (EDM, Eskom and Zesa).
"We shall give those contracts as the guarantee", said Namburete. "In the model contract we are establishing with the consortium, there is a mechanism whereby part of the money from the contracts with HCB's clients is channelled directly to pay off the debt to the consortium".
However, Namburete declined to reveal how much interest the two banks are charging. "These are details which it is not in our interest to bring into public domain", he said. "But we have negotiated a repayment period that is beneficial to HCB - that is, HCB will not be squeezed, and will be able to finance its own operations. We have also tried to ensure that HCB's social and investment programmes are not compromised".
The model negotiated, added the Minister, also means that, for the first time since its creation in 1975, HCB will pay taxes.
HCB had always been exempt from taxes, but once the shares have been purchased from Portugal, "as from next year, HCB will become a normal company", said Namburete. "It will start paying a concession fee, and taxes to the state".
SOURCE: AIM
