On 27th Feb. 1999,
the President of the Republic formed an Executive
Unit to promote and follow up on the implementation
of the Dam’s Project.
Paragraph (D) of the Republican Decree mandated the Unit to prepare and
execute all investment activities related to
the project, and search for funds. At that time, Mr. Osama
Abdullah Mohamed El Hassan was appointed a State Minister
and made the
Executive Director for the Merowe Dam Project
Implementation Unit.
On his part, Mr. Osama formed
a small committee before the end of the year to look
into the issue of funding the Dam’s Project. The
committee included some renown figures such as: Mr.
Abdul Raheem Hamdi, Mr. Mohamed Kheir El Zubair, Dr.
Taj El Sir Mustafa, Mr. Abdul Jalil Abdul Jabbar,
Eng. Munir El Hakim and others.
The Committee recommended the
search for relaxed loans for the Dam’s Body, and
commercial loans for the Power Plant and the
Transmission Lines as they will have fast revenue.
The Implementation Unit knocked on all doors in
search for funds. It approached
countries such as Malaysia, China, Canada, Arab
Countries and European Countries. It also looked
into previous and similar experiences in Turkey, Egypt
and Syria.
In 1999, the President of the
Republic considered the funding of the Merowe Dam
as a highe
priority. In his tour on the Arab countries in 2000,
he put the Project on the top list of his
agenda.
In Nov. 2000, a high ranking joint delegation
for Arab Funds arrived in Sudan to evaluate the
Project. As a result they agreed to fund 70% of
the Civil Works, and the Government of Sudan
pledged to provide the remaining 30%. The
delegation
also agreed to fully fund the
consultancy activities, and kept additional reserve funds
for the civil works.
Following is a brief information about the
contribution of each of the Arab Funds.
a) The Arab Fund for Economical and Social
Development on 7th May 2002:
Amount of the basic loan: $150 million
The amount of the additional loan: $100 million
The total amount of funding: $250 millions
The basic loan was signed on 7th May 2002, and
the additional loan was signed on 21st January
2004.
For more information about the Arab Fund please
refer to their website at:
http://www.arabfund.org
b) The Kuwaiti Fund for Economical Development:
Amount of the basic loan: $100 million
The amount of the additional loan: $50 million
The total amount of funding: $150 millions
The basic loan was signed on 17th March 2002,
and the additional loan was signed on 26 April
2004.
For more information about the Kuwaiti Fund
please refer to their website at:
http://www.kuwait-fund.org
c) Abu Dhabi Fund for Development
Amount of the basic loan: $100 million
The amount of the additional loan: $50 million
The total amount of funding: $150 millions
The basic loan was signed on 6th May 2002, and
the additional loan was signed on 26 April 2003.
For more information about the Kuwaiti Fund
please refer to their website at:
http://www.adfd.org.ae
d) The Saudi Fund for Development
Amount of the basic loan: $150 million
The amount of the additional loan: $50 million
The total amount of funding: $200 millions
The basic loan was signed on 30th December 2003,
and the additional loan was signed on 22 April
2004.
For more information about the Kuwaiti Fund
please refer to their website at:
http://www.sfd.gov.sa
In addition to the funds provided by the Arab
Funds, two Arab countries have contributed to
the financing of works at Merowe Dam, they are
Qatar and the Sultanate of Oman. On 7th July 2002, a funding
agreement of $106 million was signed with Sultanate of Oman, and on
25th August 2002 an agreement totalling
to $15 million was signed with the State of
Qatar
In addition to the Arab funding, the Government of China
provided 85% of the funding required for the
Transmission Lines and the Substations. The details
of their funding is as follows:
The first loan: $400 millions
The second loan: $65 million
The third loan: $54 million
The total amount of the Chinese loans: $519
million
All three agreements were signed on 23 December
2003.
The allowance period before
the first repayment is 6-7 years, and the maximum
repayment period is over 20 years.
