MIGA Insures Ghana Seawater Desalination

Plant

Project

will provide clean, safe water

to 500,000 residents in Accra

Washington,

November 7, 2012

- The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), the political

risk

insurance arm of the World Bank Group, announced today it is supporting

an

investment that will supply 60,000 cubic meters of potable water per

day to

residents and businesses in the TeshieNungua area of Accra. The plant

will be

built on a 25-year build-own-operate-transfer basis and is expected to

benefit

approximately 500,000 people in one of the citys poorest areas.

Increased

water supply is urgently needed in the project area and many residents

lack

access to safe drinking water, says Izumi Kobayashi, MIGAs Executive

Vice President.

Were very pleased to be supporting this investment that will supply

water to

Accras residents and provide technical know-how in seawater treatment

to build

capacity in the country.

MIGAs

investment guarantees of $179.2 million are covering an equity

investment and

shareholder loan by Abengoa Group; an equity investment and shareholder

loan by

Daye Water Investment (Ghana), BV of the Netherlands; and a

non-shareholder

loan and interest-rate swap by Standard Bank of South Africa, Ltd. The

coverage

is against the risks of transfer restriction, expropriation, breach of

contract, and war and civil disturbance.

The

project is expected to help bring Ghana a step closer toward its

Millennium

Development Goal target for water. The country is only one of four in

sub-Saharan Africa on track to meet the goal, but significant

investment is

required over the next 10 years to help Ghana meet the rising demand

for water.

Were

pleased to be investing in a project that will increase the water

supply and

help reduce the prevalence of water and sanitation-related diseases,

including

cholera, that are currently affecting the area, says Mr. Takatsune

Hirayama of

Daye Water Investment (Ghana), BV., a subsidiary of the Japanese

Trading House

- Sojitz Corporation It will also eliminate the need to purchase water

from

water trucks, which is expensive and, moreover, the quality cannot be

assured.