Kazakh utility KEGOC gets $81 mln syndicated loan

/REUTERS, Almaty, Raushan Nurshayeva, March 16, 04/ - Kazakhstan's state electricity grid operator, KEGOC, borrowed a total of $81.2 million in long-term loans on Tuesday to finance construction of a high voltage line to supply power- deficient regions, creditors said. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which had arranged a syndicated loan for KEGOC, lent $35 million of its own funds for 12 years. Another $20 million came from Austria's Raiffeisen Zentralbank Oesterreich AG and Bayerische Landesbank lent $5 million. The state-run Development Bank of Kazakhstan provided another $21.2 million for 15 years. The creditors declined to disclose interest on the loans. "The 'North-South' project aims to resolve the problem of Kazakhstan's energy- deficient southern regions by supplying electricity from the republic's northern regions which have a surplus of electricity supplies," the Development Bank of Kazakhstan said in a statement. KEGOK President Kanat Bozumbayev said the total cost of the high-voltage line to run across the steppe nation was estimated at $280 million, while the company would finance itself only 15 percent of this sum. [2004-03-16]