Mozambique’s largest dam operating firm, Hidroeletrica de Cahora Bassa (HCB), says it produced 16,078 gigawatt-hours of electricity in 2015, becoming the highest annual production in the company’s history and an increase of 6.8 percent over the previous year.
HCB, the company that operates the Cahora Bassa Dam on the Zambezi River in Tete province, said in a statement on Monday that production was now close to the maximum installed capacity of up to 2,075 megawatts of power.
The statement said the company recorded net profit of US$71.6 million in 2015, a 73 percent increase over the previous year.
HCB’s healthy financial situation has allowed it to continue paying in advance the $700 million loan it contracted in 2007 when the Mozambican government took control of the Portuguese-built dam.
Up until 2007, Portugal owned 82 percent of HCB and Mozambique only 18 percent.
Under the 2007 agreement, the Mozambican shareholding increased to 85 percent and the Portuguese holding fell to 15 percent.
To finance this sale the Mozambican government took on a US$700 million loan from a banking syndicate made up of French bank CA Lyon and Portuguese bank BPI, which would be paid off using profits from the company’s business.
Furthermore, HCB’s performance in 2015 allowed the company to pay its two shareholders, the Mozambican and Portuguese states, a dividend that was 53 percent higher than in 2014.
Source: StarAfrica
