Bissau, 28 March 2023. The Board of Directors of the West African Development Bank (BOAD) held its 134th ordinary meeting in hybrid format, under the chairmanship of Mr. Serge Ekue, Chairman of the Board and President of BOAD. This was the first meeting of the institution’s fiftieth anniversary year.
Following approval of the minutes of its 133rd meeting held on 2 December 2022 in Niamey (Niger), the Board endorsed the Bank’s annual accounts for the FYE 31 December 2022, the 2023-2027 financial outlook update, the proposed strengthening of the Board’s powers and responsibilities and the Bank’s climate policy.
Ten (10) operations were equally examined and approved by the Board members and related to the partial funding of the following projects:
- Granting of a short-term loan to Vista Group Holding SA in Burkina Faso. The objective is to provide financial support to Vista Group as part of the “ORA SPV HOLDING” operation. Loan amount: XOF25 billion
- Project 2 of food and nutritional insecurity resilience building programme in the Sahel (P2-P2RS) in the Republic of Niger. The overall objective of the project is to contribute to poverty alleviation and improved living conditions and food and nutritional security of the communities in its intervention zone. Loan amount: XOF16 billion.
- Project 2 of food and nutritional insecurity resilience building programme in the Sahel (P2-P2RS) in the Republic of Senegal. The Bank’s contribution will allow, in particular, the hydro-agricultural development of 640 ha in irrigated perimeter, the mechanical and biological restoration of 2,000 ha of degraded farmland and pastures, the development of 100 km of firebreaks and 250 ha of passage corridors, as well as the installation of agro-sylvo-pastoral and fisheries processing units, with a view to promoting value chains. Loan amount: XOF11 billion.
- Loan proposal for the partial funding of the emergency project to build resilience for agricultural sector stakeholders (PUR-KEBUR) in the Republic of Guinea Bissau. The project is intended to: (i) provide emergency food assistance of 12,000 tons of food for vulnerable populations and (ii) increase rice and vegetable production over a total area of 15,000 ha, by providing small producers with inputs and agricultural mechanization equipment, namely tractors, cultivators and combine harvesters. Loan amount: XOF25billion.
- Urban road construction and sanitation project in the city of Bissau in the Republic of Guinea Bissau. The implementation of this project will contribute to improved urban mobility and living conditions of the communities in the project area. More specifically, it will make it possible to: (i) open up ten (10) of the forty-seven (47) neighborhoods in the city of Bissau and facilitate access to the administrative and commercial centers; (ii) reduce vehicle operating costs by about 25% from the first year of operation of the constructed roads; and (iii) improve stormwater drainage and reduce the risk of flooding in some neighborhoods of Bissau. Loan amount: XOF15 billion
- Project for the construction of roads and utility networks and structuring infrastructure in the Diass special integrated economic zone (ZESID) in the Republic of Senegal. The project’s overall objective is to create a regional logistics and industrial hub with quality infrastructure to drive and encourage industrial production and foster the emergence of a strong national private sector. Loan amount: XOF30 billion.
- Strategic supplier debt repayment programme by the company Energie du Mali (EDM-SA) in the Republic of Mali. The operation will contribute to ensure the continuity of electricity supply to the Malian population and to support the country’s economic and social development. Loan amount: XOF45 billion.
- Partial guarantee for a short-term credit facility granted by Banque Atlantique Côte d’Ivoire (BACI) to the Compagnie Ivoirienne d’Electricité (CIE). This guarantee will make it possible to finance over the short-term the CIE’s cashflow requirements. Facility amount: XOF15 billion.
- Construction of the drainage network associated with the CIPREL 5 and AZITO 4 thermal power plants in the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire. This operation complements a previous loan granted to this project by the Board at its meeting held in June 2020. It will guarantee the evacuation and injection into the interconnected grid of the power generated by the CIPREL 5 and AZITO 4 power plants, in order to secure power supply and thereby contribute to improve service quality. Loan amount: XOF20 billion.
- Construction of 4,300 low-income and affordable housing units in Côte d’Ivoire: tranche 1 of 1,160 housing units in Abidjan PK24. The overall project involves the construction of housing units in Abidjan, PK24 (2,360), Yamoussoukro (420) and Bouaké (1,520), as well as the development of three sites over a total area of 23 ha in those three cities. This operation, which represents the first support provided by BOAD under the project, will cover 1,160 housing units in Abidjan, in the industrial zone of Yopougon PK 24, and the site development. Loan amount: XOF40 billion.
These new loans, amounting to XOF242 billion, bring BOAD’s total commitments (all operations combined) to XOF7,469.3 billion since commencement of its operations.
Furthermore, the Board issued a favourable opinion on the 2022 annual report, the amendment of the Bank’s Articles of Association following the decision to increase the capital base, the statement of recovery of BOAD loans as at 28 February 2023 and overall recovery situation as at 31 December 2022, and ESG by Design Program: towards increased maturity in CSR at BOAD.
The Board was also informed of the following: the report of the 43rd Audit Committee meeting; the report on the implementation of the 2021-2025 strategic plan “Djoliba”: review as at the end of the 2nd year; the status of BOAD’s operations per country as at 31/12/2022; the report on the implementation of BOAD’s IT Blueprint for 2022; the status report on the use of resources mobilized by BOAD as at 31 January 2023; the report on the implementation of the 2022 annual tranche of BOAD’s 2022-2024 programme-budget; the compendium of recommendations and decisions taken during Board meetings held in 2022 and the minutes of the ordinary and extraordinary meetings of the WAMU Council of Ministers held on 19 and 30 December 2022 respectively.
In his closing remarks, Chairman Serge Ekue, on behalf of the Board of Directors, expressed his deepest gratitude to the authorities of Guinea Bissau for the facilities and efforts deployed to host this meeting under congenial conditions.
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