WASHINGTON, D.C., Aug. 28 -- The International Finance Corporation (IFC) will provide a financing package of up to US$23.65 million to Rain Calcining Limited, to set up a calcined petroleum coke (CPC) facility and co-generation power plant at Visakhapatnam port in India. Financing agreements to this effect were signed in Bombay today.
Rain Calcining Limited will produce 250,000 tonnes per annum of CPC (used primarily in aluminum production) for supply to growing Indian and regional markets. India currently imports 90,000 tonnes per annum of CPC.
In addition to the CPC facility, a 49 megawatt co-generation power plant will be built to recover waste heat from the CPC facility and generate electric power for sale. The power will be sold to local industrial users under a wheeling arrangement with the Andhra Pradesh State Electricity Board.
The project will serve to reinforce India's position as a leading world supplier of aluminum and is expected to provide a model for similar co-generation power projects, both in India and other developing countries.
"This innovative project will assist in achieving two objectives. It will help to secure the competitiveness of aluminum production, one of India's largest industries, as well as alleviating the shortage of electricity in the state of Andhra Pradesh," said Mr. Jean-Philippe Halphen, Director of IFC's Chemicals, Petrochemicals, and Fertilizers Department.
The cost of the project is estimated at US$94 million. IFC will provide a loan of US$18.25 million of its own funds and up to US$5.4 million in equity (15 percent of the share capital).
The project is a joint venture of Indian investors led by Indian entrepreneur Mr. N. Jagan Reddy, and Houston Industries Energy, Inc., a subsidiary of Houston Industries Incorporated. Houston Industries is the parent company of the ninth largest regulated utility in the United States. AIMCOR USA, one of the world's leading suppliers of coke products, will also have an equity stake in the project.
IFC is a member of the World Bank Group and is the largest multilateral source of equity and loan financing for private sector projects in developing countries.
