HUNGARIAN TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANY LTD II

completed

SUMMARY OF PROJECT INFORMATION (SPI)Country/Project Name HUNGARY-Hungarian Telecommunications Company Limited (HTC) Region EuropeSector TelecommunicationsProject No. 004898Projected Board Date June 15, 1995Company Name Magyar Távközlési Rt. (Matáv) or HTCTechnical Partner and/or Major Shareholders MagyarCom, a consortium of Deutsche Bundespost Telekom of Germany and Ameritech International of United States, owns 30.14% of Matáv and provides management and technical assistance. The government of Hungary owns 64.86% of Matáv. Other Shareholders include the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (1.97%) and IFC (0.99%).Project Cost including proposed IFC investment: Total Project Cost is US$1.0 billion. IFC''s investment is part of a US$300 million loan facility jointly arranged by Deutsche Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and IFC. IFC would provide up to US$100 million with US$50 million for its own account.Location of project and Description of site: HungaryDescription of Company and Purpose of Project: Matáv is the main telecommunications company in Hungary providing local, long distance and international telecommunications services. The project is to build an additional 620,000 lines and to modernize and upgrade the existing telecommunications infrastructure.Environmental Categories and Issues: This is a category B project according to IFC''s environmental review procedure. Key environmental issues associated with this project include right-of-way alignment, radio tower site selection, solid waste disposal, PCBs, fire protection and general worker safety. The sponsor has responded to an environmental questionnaire provided by IFC, and is currently preparing an environmental management plan addressing the issues listed above. In addition, the sponsor''s facilities have been inspected by local environmental authorities in Hungary, resulting in corrective action recommendations primarily relating to hazardous waste storage. The sponsor is currently addressing these issues and will incorporate them into their management plan. The Environmental Review Summary is expected to be available on or about May 15 from the Public Information Center.Date SPI sent to PIC May 10, 1995For additional Information contact: Corporate Relations Unit - telephone (202) 473-7711 - facsimile: (202) 676-0365.Environmental documents for this project are available at http://www.ifc.org and from the World Bank InfoShop (http://www.worldbank.org/html/pic/aboutinfo.html).