USG Position on the African Development Bank’s investment in 

ESKOM Medupi Coal Fired Power Project 

November 25, 2009 

South Africa is working very hard to manage its extremely challenging task of delivering 

essential services to its population. Strong energy infrastructure is a critical element of that task. 

Clearly, investments in power generation have not kept pace with the needs of the economy, and 

the current tariff structure does not allow Eskom to fund needed investments. With the 

construction of this power plant, South Africa will begin to benefit from a more reliable source 

of power and from fewer blackouts that could negatively affect economic output, as happened in 

2008. 

South Africa has a strong vision for meeting longer-term energy sector needs and in particular, 

the United States government (USG) welcomes the proposals for a feed-in tariff for renewable 

energy that the national energy regulator is considering and for establishing grid operator rules 

that provide fair access for renewable sources of energy. The USG also welcomes the 

preparation of a long-term Integrated Resource Plan currently being readied for consideration by 

the South African cabinet that includes concentrated solar power, cogeneration, solar water 

heaters, wind power, demand side management, nuclear power, and the shut down of old 

inefficient power plants. It would be ideal to release this to the public shortly. 

These efforts demonstrate a strong commitment by the South African authorities to address 

sustainable energy. However, the success of this bold vision is critically dependent on whether 

the tariff structure in South Africa is fundamentally restructured so that there are adequate 

revenues to fund capital investment and adequate incentives for replicating renewable and energy 

efficiency investments, while at the same time the poorest are provided with targeted subsidies. 

This is understandably difficult in any nation, but perhaps more so in South Africa, whose 

citizens have become accustomed to either very cheap energy or still lack access to reliable 

electricity. 

Turning to the specific project, the USG has a number of concerns about the adequacy of the 

environmental impact assessment, the retroactive procurement, and the adequacy of the efforts to 

mitigate the impact of the significant CO2 and SO2 emissions. 

First, on environmental issues, four observations are to be made: 

1. Associated facilities: The United States reviewed carefully the environmental impact 

assessment (EIA) and found several deficient areas. It is the view of the USG that the 

EIA should assess two key associated facilities which are needed for the project to 

operate: (1) the planned construction of a water transfer system needed to supply half of 

the water needs for the power plant (Crocodile West Transfer Water Scheme, with an 

estimated cost of $1.5 billion), and (2) the expansion of the Grootegeluk coal mine being 

used to supply the power plant (estimated cost of roughly $900 million). The World 

Bank and AfDB do not consider these to be associated facilities. However, they are 

essential for the project to operate and will have significant environmental impacts. 

Therefore, these facilities should be subject to a full environmental impact assessment. 

The USG urges the Bank to broaden its definition of “associated facilities” so that it 
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would cover facilities such as these. The Inter-American Development Bank’s policy 

provides a good model in a peer institution. 

2. Cumulative Impacts: The 4800 MW Kusile coal fired power plant, which is currently 

under construction, is just 50km from the Medupi plant, according to AfDB staff. The 

impacts from this plant should have been included in the assessment of cumulative 

impacts. 

3. Local particulates: Modeling studies indicate that SOX levels will exceed World Bank 

standards. Although the project is flue gas desulphurization-ready, the AfDB proposal 

does not include a loan covenant requiring Eskom to install this equipment if the 

emissions exceed those standards. The USG hopes that this can be negotiated in the loan 

agreement. 

4. Encouraging local standards: Finally, the USG understands and is encouraged that South 

African law requires that the EIAs for impacts will be done eventually, consistent with 

South African laws, and that a cumulative impact assessment of the coal power projects 

on both sides of the South Africa-Botswana border will also be undertaken. However, 

they should have been done in advance of consideration by the Board. This transparency 

is a significant component of the AfDB’s value added in such a large, complex project. 

Second, on procurement issues, the USG is concerned that the project is not compliant with the 

Bank’s Procurement Rules. Given that roughly 95% of the procurement has already been 

completed, the Bank’s retroactive financing requirements on the Procurement Rules should 

apply. The technical annex and staff responses to our questions acknowledge multiple important 

inconsistencies with AfDB Procurement Rules. The non-compliance with the Bank’s 

Procurement Rules on advance contracting and retroactive financing should have prohibited 

AfDB financing of this project. The adverse impact of these violations of the international 

competitive bidding provisions of the Rules is demonstrated by the fact that there was only one 

“compliant” bidder each for the very large-value contracts for boilers and turbines. It is probable 

that the various irregularities discouraged bidders (and it is possible that other potential bidders 

were not even aware of this tender, which was issued by invitation), and it will never be known if 

Eskom received the best deal possible, as would have been the case if the AfDB’s Procurement 

Rules had been followed. While the Bank’s efforts to explain the lapses are noted, they do not 

mitigate them. The USG welcomes staff confirmation that the fraud and corruption provisions 

(Sections 1.14 and 1.15 in their entirety) of the Procurement Rules will apply to the financing 

and would urge the Bank and Eskom to work together to ensure that the AfDB Procurement 

Rules will be applied in any future AfDB financed project. 

Third, as the historic United Nations meeting in Copenhagen to address climate change 

approaches, the USG is looking for the multilateral development banks to play an important role 

assisting developing countries in lowering their greenhouse trajectories. The AfDB risks 

undermining its potential for having an effective future role in climate finance when it does not 

actively engage with host governments well upstream of coal projects to explore the potential for 

developing alternatives that would reduce the need for them. On the contrary, this plant has 

already been under construction for a year and a half. At a minimum, the AfDB and its 

shareholders would have been better served by ensuring that the timing of this project coincided 

with that of the World Bank board consideration. This would have allowed a more coordinated 
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and effective response by the two MDBs and their Boards to the climate-related concerns raised 

by this project, which at 26 million tons of CO2 per year, will rank as one of the largest sources 

of carbon emissions in the world. 

In addition to engaging with project sponsors upstream, the USG would like the Bank to work 

with coal project sponsors to plan and implement actions that would offset the project’s 

emissions. As noted, the South Africans have put together a fairly ambitious set of policy and 

programmatic measures with implications for limiting power sector emissions. These 

reductions, however, total less than half of the emissions projected to be added by the Medupi 

project. We do not have information about the net positive or negative effect on power sector 

emissions of other planned actions. 

In closing, the USG remains impressed with South Africa’s efforts to improve the lives of its 

people and its vision for sustainable energy. The USG commends South Africa’s concrete 

proposals for developing renewables, an ambitious energy efficiency program, shutting down 

inefficient coal power projects as new capacity is added, and reformed regulatory and tariff 

structures. However, given concerns as stated above on this project -- adequacy of the 

environmental impact assessment, procurement policy violations, and inadequate efforts to 

address CO2 emissions -- the United States wishes to be recorded as abstaining.