Lomé, 20 September 2024. The Board of Directors of the West African Development Bank (BOAD) held its 143rd ordinary meeting by videoconference, under the chairmanship of Mr. Serge Ekue, Chairman of the Board and President of BOAD.
Following approval of the minutes of its 142nd meeting held on 26 June 2024 in hybrid mode in Lomé, Togo, the Board adopted the interim financial report as at 30 June 2024 and issued a favourable opinion on the statement of loan recovery as at 31 August 2024.
The Board further approved six (6) new loans totalling XOF105.638 billion, bringing the Bank’s total commitments (all operations combined) to XOF8,854.3 billion since commencement of its operations in 1976.
The approved loans relate to the partial funding of the following projects:
- Short-term credit facility for the partial refinancing of the Sociétés Coopératives Simplifiées Producteurs de Coton (SCOOPS-PC) of the SOFITEX zone as part of the 2024-2025 cotton season in Burkina Faso. The project aims to strengthen Ecobank Burkina’s short-term financial resources meant to support the financing requirements of producer cooperatives (SCOOPS-PC) in the SOFITEX zone as part of the 2024-2025 cotton season.
- Loan amount: XOF10 billion
- Projected impacts: the project will facilitate access to funds for some 1,100 producer cooperatives (SCOOPS-PC) (approximately 23,000 farm managers, including 400 women) to purchase the required inputs for cotton farming.
- Short-term facility to Ivory Cocoa Products (ICP) SA for the partial funding of the 2024-2025 cocoa season in Côte d’Ivoire. BOAD’s loan will be used to finance the purchase of some 7,500 tonnes of cocoa beans.
- Loan amount: XOF15 billion
- Projected impact: this project is classified as “sustainable development project”. In addition, the Bank’s financing will contribute to improving the livelihoods of over 6 million people, consolidating 5,000 indirect and induced jobs, and safeguarding some 170 full-time jobs at ICP.
- The proposed upgrading of the Fresco-Sassandra-San Pedro-Grand Bereby section of the coastal road in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire. The project’s overall objective is to contribute to the economic development of the areas served by facilitating access to these important agricultural, tourist and mining production areas, thereby improving trade between the San Pedro and Gboklè regions and the District of Abidjan.
- Loan amount: XOF28.638 billion
- Projected impact: the project will generate 2,650 direct and indirect jobs. In addition, environmental impacts will be controlled by compensatory reforestation to strengthen the project’s ‘carbon sink’ function, by fair compensation for people affected by the project, and by the implementation and monitoring of environmental and social measures.
- The Komsilga power plant extension project (phase 4) by Société Nationale d’Electricité du Burkina (SONABEL) in Burkina Faso. The project’s overall objective of the project is to contribute to strengthening the production capacities of the national interconnected grid through the installation and commissioning of an additional 50 MW capacity.
- Loan amount: XOF30 billion
- Projected impact: 350 GWh of electric power generated annually, improved access to electricity for 217,000 inhabitants, creation of 250 jobs. Control of environmental impacts will be supported by the implementation of an environmental and social management plan.
- The rural electrification project for one hundred and seventy-two (172) localities through the extension of the medium and low voltage power grid in the Republic of Togo. The project seeks to contribute towards universal access to electricity for the country’s population by electrifying the target rural areas in order to tackle poverty and curb rural drift.
- Loan amount: XOF6 billion
- Projected impact: with moderate impacts on the environment, this project will help improve access to electricity for 35,890 additional people through the distribution of 9.3 GWH of electricity in the first year and the creation of 625 jobs.
- Construction of a public drinking water distribution network in the municipalities of Abobo and Yopougon in the Autonomous District of Abidjan, Republic of Côte d’Ivoire. The project will make it possible to provide a sustainable increase in water supply to areas with water shortages in the municipalities of Abobo and Yopougon, using the Mé drinking water resource.
- Loan amount: XOF16 billion
- Projected impact: a 50% reduction in water-borne diseases, an increase of 100,000 m3 per day of drinking water mobilized and distributed, over 1.2 million additional people having access to an improved water source, some 250 jobs created during project implementation and over 850 indirect and induced jobs.
Finally, the Board took note of the following items for information:
- Minutes of the 47th meeting of the Audit Committee
- Allocation of the annual ordinary appropriations paid in for FY2022 and FY2023
- Status of resources mobilized by BOAD as at 31 July 2024
- Implementation report on a credit insurance policy for BOAD’s non-sovereign debt portfolio (INDOUKAT Project)
- Minutes of the ordinary meeting of the WAMU Council of Ministers held on 11 July 2024 at Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso.
In his closing remarks, Chairman Serge Ekue conveyed a message of full and firm solidarity to the authorities and people of Mali following the recent attacks in Bamako, and further thanked the technical teams for the efforts deployed for the organization of this meeting under congenial conditions.
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