Infrastructure

Nigeria’s new Infrastructure Corporation opens for business

The term sheets for the new Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria were signed on April 8th, 2022. Picture: CBN.

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On April 8th, term sheets were signed between the Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria (InfraCorp) and four independent infrastructure asset managers: Sanlam InfraWorks, Africa Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), the AAA Infrastructure Nigeria consortium (comprising of Afrinvest, Africa Plus Partners, and ARC Asset Management), and Chapel Hill Denham.

InfraCorp is a new privately-managed investment, infrastructure and industrial vehicle promoted by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA).

Last year, President Muhammadu Buhari had already cleared the way for the launch of InfraCorp by approving its initial seed capital of NGN 1 tn ($2.4 bn).

CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele expressed confidence that a substantial portion of the NGN 15 tn ($35 bn) funding required for the first phase of the execution of InfraCorp was available locally.

The asset managers are responsible for originating, structuring, executing, and managing end-to-end bankable infrastructure projects in Nigeria.

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Madagascar: Ambatolampy 20 MW solar substation energized

The Ambatolampy 20MW 20/63KV solar substation, built by Malgasy contractor ENERTEC MADA, was successfully energized on April 9th. This marks a new critical milestone in the expansion of the Ambatolampy solar PV plant from 20MW to 40MW. The end of construction on the second phase of 20 MW had already been announced by AXIAN Energy’s CEO Benjamin Memmi back in February this year. The initial 20 MW facility was developed by Green Yellow, an affiliate of France’s mass-market retail Casino Group, and has been producing clean power since 2018. It remains until today the largest solar plant in the Indian Ocean. Malgasy conglomerate Axian eventually acquired 51% of the solar plant’s shares in June 2020 before embarking on an expansion to 40 MW while equipping the facility with a 5 MWh energy storage system. Full details on the Ambatolampy Solar PV Plant in Madagascar are available in the “Projects” section within your Hawilti+ research terminal.

Gabon considers new 340Km railway line between Owendo and Booué

Earlier this week, the Government of Gabon signed a contract with INPEX SA, subsidiary of RISE Gabon, to carry out necessary studies on the planned 340km Komo-Ogooue Railway (KOR) project. RISE Gabon is an investment vehicle dedicated to financing the country’s infrastructure and was born out of a partnership with the Islamic Development Bank in 2020. The new railway line would link Owendo in Libreville to Booué in Central Gabon. It is part of the country’s efforts to expand its logistic network and support the diversification of its economy. Under a 30-year concession, Gabon is already financing and upgrading its strategic 650km Transgabonaise railway line that connects Owendo to Franceville. Since 2015, the Transgabonaise railway has notably been subject to a €509m modernization, renovation and upgrade programme (the “PRN”) to restore its initial capacity by 2024. In 2021, an additional CAPEX of €197m was agreed upon (“PRN2”) to further increase the capacity of the line to reach a total of 19 m MT by 2027.