DESALCOTT gets US$112M loan

The Desalination Company of TT (Desalcott) yesterday commemorated its long-term financial agreement with Republic Finance and Merchant Bank (Fincor) with a press conference held at Desalcott’s headquarters, Pacific Avenue, Point Lisas Industrial Estate.

The conference, which was followed by a tour of the facility, served to highlight the US $112.2 million loan provided by Fincor for the construction of the final phase of the desalination plant. The plant, which has a total cost of US$150 million, is the largest reverse osmosis desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere and the second largest in the world. It supplies desalinated sea water to the public water supply system primarily for industrial use in the Point Lisas Industrial Estate, thereby enhancing the regular supply of water for residential use to some 35,000 people. In his address to the gathering, Deputy Managing Director of Republic Bank Limited, David Dual-Whiteway noted that the involvement of Fincor in the project was proof that the Bank can add value to all chains of project financing. “This project,” he said, “represents a significant amount of financing. There  has been no other project of this magnitude done locally.”

Fincor, he went on, arranged bridge financing of US $77 million to take the plant to completion. He said, “There were a lot of intricacies with respect to the financing of this project and we are gratified to see that we have reached this stage.” In expressing his gratitude to Republic Bank for its financial aid, Desalcott’s Executive Chairman, Hafeez Karamath, noted that the project had come a long way since its conceptual stage five years ago. “All we had then,” he stated, “was a piece of paper which said you have an agreement to build a desalination plant and provide the government of TT and its water agency WASA with an uninterrupted supply of water for the next 20 years.” This, he went on, has never been done before anywhere in the world. “No one has ever attempted to build a plant  this size and one which uses this type of technology,” Karamath maintained. He thanked fellow shareholder, Ionics Inc, for its aid in the construction of the plant, noting that they had taken on a “humongous task.” Karamath revealed that since the plant was turned on, it has been running at its full capacity maintaining its contractual deliverables to WASA. WASA has a contract with Desalcott to purchase 109,090 cubic metres (24 million gallons) of water per day at a cost of approximately$4.46 per cubic metre.