International Bank for Reconstruction and Development

The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development participated in several loans for electric power development during the late winter and spring of 1961. 1) On February 23, 1961, the Bank announced a loan of $30 million for the expansion of electric generating and transmission facilities in Yugoslavia. The loan was to help finance die construction of a 216,000-kilowatt hydroelectric plant in the Velebit mountains near Senj on the Adriatic coast and the installation of 790 miles of high voltage transmission lines to improve the country-wide electric power network. Six private commercial banks participated in the loan, which was for a term of 25 years and was to bear interest of 5¾ percent, with amortization to begin March 1, 1965. 2) The Bank also made a loan to the Japanese Development Bank that in turn was to re-lend the proceeds to the Kyushu Electric Power Co., Inc., for the expansion of electric generating capacity on the island of Kyushu. The loan, announced on March 16, 1961, was to assist in financing the construction of a 156,000-kilowatt thermal power plant at Kokura in northern Kyushu, one of the most heavily industrialized areas in Japan. It was for a term of twenty years and bore interest of 5¾ percent, with amortization to begin September 1, 1962. The International Bank had previously lent $11.2 million in 1953 for the installation of an initial 75,000-kilowatt unit in the Karita thermal power station to expand the Kyushu company's power facilities. 3) Another loan for electric power expansion was made known on March 29, 1961, when the Bank announced that it had lent $8.4 million to the United Kingdom Protectorate of Uganda for the extension of the electric power transmission and distribution systems of the Uganda Electricity Board. The loan, guaranteed by the United Kingdom, was for a term of twenty years and bore interest of 5¾ percent, with amortization to begin June 1, 1964. Fourteen banks in the United States, Belgium, and the Netherlands participated in the loan, which was to meet the cost of imported goods and services for the Electricity Board's $14 million development program. 4) On May 12, 1961, the Bank announced a loan of $22 million for the expansion of hydroelectric installations to supply power to the metropolitan area of Medellin, an important manufacturing center in Colombia. The loan was made to the Empresas Publicas de Medellin, an autonomous public enterprise, and was to provide for the addition of 138,000 kilowatts of new capacity to the system already servicing the area and for the extension of transmission and distribution facilities. Empresas was to finance local currency costs from its own resources. The Bank had already loaned $12 million to Empresas in 1959 for the first stage of its electricity project. Four commercial banks participated in the loan, which was for a term of 25 years, bore interest at 5¾ percent, and was scheduled to begin amortization in March 1966.