EPM Signs New Credit Agreement With French Development Agency To Finance Community Projects

Medellín based utility conglomerate  Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM) announced on Thursday, March 16 that the company has inked a new credit contract with the French Development Agency (AFD) for $189.8 million USD, with the funds earmarked for social projects of the company as well as looking to improve its energy-efficiency methods.

The press release from the company shows that the new contract will be the second contract that the company will have made with AFD; the first credit contract between the two was executed in 2012 and was worth $338 million. It was used to push EPM ’s expansion plans in the fields of generation, distribution and transmission of electricity and natural gas.

The new credit contract, which was authorized through resolution by the Ministry of Finance and Public Credit of Colombia, will help finance EPM ’s energy-efficiency programs, including research into the “production of photovoltaic energy” as well as improving distribution networks across the country, including a focus on rural areas.

AFD is planning on providing any necessary support to EPM with regards to the needs of its projects, including technical support and cooperation for their environmental initiatives, as well as “the strengthening of an action plan for the continuity of activities in closing gender equality gaps and the promotion of Non-Conventional Renewable Energies.”

The French Development Agency as a financial institution is well-known for its efforts to promote sustainable development and the improvement of general living conditions around the world.

“[This] is the second credit operation that we have granted to EPM, totaling more than 500 million dollars [and] destined to improve [their] water and energy infrastructures, their efficiency and productivity, to favor the population’s access to basic services and to strengthen the operation of one of the most important public companies in the country,” Frédéric Doré, the French ambassador to Colombia, said in a statement.

“[This] transaction demonstrates the support of international development banks in our Company, which is committed to transforming the lives of the community through the provision of public services, the development of the territories and environmental care,” EPM general manager Jorge Andrés Carrillo Cardoso said.