Bank Group Approves Second Monitoring Report On Updated Management Action Plan For The Medupi Power Project In South Africa

Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, October 3, 2017 – The Boards of Directors of the African Development Bank Group approved on September 6, 2017 the recommendations of the Second Monitoring Report of the Independent Review Mechanism (IRM) on the Implementation of the Updated Management Action Plan for the Medupi Power Project in South Africa.

The Management Action Plan was endorsed by the Boards of Directors on February 13, 2013. It was designed to bring the Medupi project into compliance with applicable Bank policies and procedures based on the recommendations of the IRM Compliance Review Report. The Compliance Review Report had noted a number of instances of non-compliance with Bank policies. The Boards consequently authorized the IRM to conduct annual monitoring of the Management Remedial Action Plan on February 13, 2013, including the scope of the annual monitoring by the IRM. The findings of the first IRM Monitoring Report were approved by the Board of Directors on November 26, 2015.

This second monitoring report assessed the following: the status of monitoring the implementation of the environmental management plan, the extent of project supervision, progress towards the regional impact assessments of the project, compliance with the integrated water resources management policy of the Bank, efforts made to improve public consultation with the communities and the mitigation measures to resolve other issues. The findings and recommendations contained in the second monitoring report were made on the basis of an analysis of the management supervision reports and a field visit to the project site from February 19 to 25, 2017.

The Boards take note of the progress achieved by the Bank’s Management in bringing the Medupi Power Project in compliance with Bank policies and procedures and authorizes the IRM to continue its monitoring of the project.

Following the recommendations of the Boards of Directors, the IRM will undertake the third annual monitoring of the Medupi Power Project in 2018 in line with the monitoring process as approved by the Board of Directors on February 13, 2013. The Bank’s Management will submit bi-annual supervision reports on progress made in the implementation of the updated Management Action Plan to the IRM for review.

The Medupi Power Project consists of the construction of a 4,764 MW coal-fired power plant in Lephalalae, Limpopo Province, South Africa. On 25 November, 2009, the Board of Directors of the Africa Development Bank approved a loan not exceeding €930 million for the supply and installation of six boilers and turbo-generators in the Medupi project.