Lower house greenlights US$37mn refinancing for Soapberry treatment plant

Jamaica's house of representatives has greenlighted a government guarantee for a US$37mn loan for the Central Wastewater Treatment Company, government news agency JIS reported. The credit, which comes from the National Commercial Bank ( NCB), will refinance an existing loan facility with the bank to build the Soapberry wastewater treatment plant in St Catherine parish. The US$51.5mn project aims to solve the area's long-standing wastewater treatment problems and clean up the Kingston Harbor. The existing loan was taken with NCB in 2006, with the national housing trust and the urban development corporation putting in additional funds for the project. "The reality is that at the current rates, there will be great difficulty in servicing that particular loan, and it was necessary to seek to refinance the loan on long-term financing. We have ended up with three bonds through NCB, which will average about 8% compared to the former 11.7%," said housing, environment and water minister Horace Chang. The restructuring will be arranged as note issues, with US dollar-secured notes offered to investors through a private placement, according to the report. Central Wastewater Treatment Company's financial statements for the year ended February 28 showed a net loss on operations of J$95mn (US$1.11mn), with operating revenues amounting to J$440mn.