(Jamaica Observer) Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS) has signed a US$60.5-million loan agreement with the French Development Finance Institution (PROPARCO) to help reduce electricity theft and construct a 6 MW hydroelectric power plant on the island.
“We are very happy that we are able, at this stage, to match the needs of JPS to the financing of those needs,” said JPS president and CEO Damian Obiglio at the signing ceremony held at the power company’s head office on Knutsford Boulevard in Kingston.
“The funds provided by PROPARCO are long term with a very convenient term of payments and are at very competitive interest rates, and that guarantees the financing of these projects,” he said.
The loan will be repaid over 10 years, in semi-annual instalments. JPS has been given up to one year to access the loan funds and repayment will begin a year after the availability period.
Obiglio told Sunday Finance that the funds will be distributed evenly among both projects.
The aim of the electricity theft reduction project is to reduce losses from the current 11.8 per cent (of electricity produced) to at least five per cent over the next four years, revealed the JPS boss.
“The theft is very sophisticated (in Jamaica), from the people who hang the wires in the streets to people who tamper with electronic metres… this investment will help us in bringing new technologies, change the old lines in the streets and covert them into much more modern lines that are tamper proof,” explained Obiglio.
He said the hydroelectric power plant, which will be constructed in Maggotty, St Elizabeth, will save approximately US$50 million of oil imported to the country annually. It will be located on the same Maggotty river as the company’s existing hydro power plant.
“It’s going to be the first hydro power plant to be constructed in the country in more than 20 years… On top of that, it is in line with the Vision 2030 to increase renewable in Jamaica,” said Obiglio
PROPARCO deputy chief director Jerome Bertrand-Hardy said the company was enticed to do the deal because part of its key focus revolves around energy efficiency and renewable energy, which is in line with JPS’s.
