WAPP Donor Roundtable and Donor Coordination Meetings

Within the framework of mobilizing financing for the development of the Priority Projects, the West African Power Pool Secretariat organized in Cotonou, Donor Roundtable meetings from April 25 to 27, 2017 and a Donor Coordination Meeting on April 28, 2017. The projects that were examined during the Donor Roundtable Meetings were the 330 kV Nigeria – Niger – Togo/Benin – Burkina Interconnection Project (commonly known as the “WAPP Northcore Project”) and the 225 kV Guinea – Mali Interconnection Project. The Objective of these Donor Roundtable meetings were to adopt indicative Financing Plans for the implementation of the projects. With regards to the Donor Coordination Meeting held on April 28, 2017, the Objective of the meeting was to update the WAPP Donors on the status of implementation of the Priority Projects and seek engagements on new endeavors. The outcomes of the meeting, quite encouraging, can be surmised as follows:

For the 330 kV WAPP Northcore Project:

The meeting from April 25 to 26, 2017 permitted confirmation of the Pledges made by the Donors during the 1st Roundtable meeting held in Ouagadougou on November 9, 2017, during which an equivalent of US$1.2 billion was announced. The project cost is estimated at US$729.22 million and is envisaged to be financed by the Donors (African Development Bank, World Bank, Agence Française de Developpement, Islamic Development Bank, European Union and ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development) with up to US$717.50 million. The countries involved in the project shall provide the remaining US$11.78 million. It is expected that financing approval by the Donors shall commence before the end of 2017 and that project commissioning shall tentatively be in 2021.

For the 225 kV Guinea – Mali Interconnection Project:

The project is being developed in two (2#) Phase with Phase 1 of the project (225 kV Interconnection Line from N’zérékoré (Guinea) to Sanankoraba (Mali) through Beyla, Kerouané, Kankan, Fomi et Siguiri in Guinea) estimated at EUR 362.32 million, and Phase 2 (225 kV Transmission Line between Linsan and Fomi in Guinea) approximated at EUR 151.43 million. The pre-investment studies for Phase 1 have been completed by the WAPP Secretariat whilst the preparation of Phase 2 is ongoing by the Government of Guinea. The meeting of April 27, 2017 permitted the confirmation of Pledges that had been made by WAPP Donors (African Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, European Union, Banque Ouest Africaine de Development, European Investment Bank and the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development) during previous Roundtable meetings equivalent to approximately EUR 288.10 million for Phase 1 of the Project. The meeting also saw the addition of the World Bank as Partner in support of Phase 1 of the project that resulted in the financing gap of EUR74.22 being closed. According to the Financing Plan adopted for this Phase 1 of the project, it is envisaged that the WAPP Donors shall support EUR 341.69 million of the cost of the project whilst the concerned countries shall provide the remaining EUR 19.63 million. Approval of financing by the respective Boards of the WAPP Donors shall commence before end 2017. Commissioning of the Project is anticipated in 2021.

Agence Française de Developpement, in anticipation of the finalization of pre-investment studies on Phase 2 of the Project (Linsan - Fomi in Guinea), had indicated that it was already positioning itself in support of this Phase 2 of the Project with EUR 35 million. The other Partners present on Phase 1 also confirmed their keen interest to support Phase 2 once the pre-investment studies were completed by the Government of Guinea.

For the WAPP Donors’ Coordination Meeting

During the meeting, the WAPP Partners that were present not only re-confirmed their intentions for the above-mentioned projects but also for the 225 kV Ghana – Burkina - Mali Interconnection Project (EUR172 million - Agence Française de Developpement, European Investment Bank, African Development Bank, Banque Ouest Africaine de Development, Islamic Development Bank and the ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development) and the 330 kV Côte d’Ivoire – Ghana Interconnection Reinforcement (EUR185.5 million - European Investment Bank, KfW). Both KfW and World Bank confirmed their interest to also support the 225 kV Ghana – Burkina - Mali Interconnection Project.

Also, during the meeting, the World Bank confirmed its keen interest to fund the pre-investment studies on the WAPP Regional Solar Power Park in Burkina with EUR 2.9 million. The KfW, European Investment Bank and World Bank also took the occasion to confirm their keen interest to finance the implementation of the project once the pre-investment studies had been completed.

The KfW took the occasion to also re-confirm its keen interest to support with US$30 million, the completion of Fibre Optic loop in Cote d’Ivoire for the efficient functioning of WAPP Information and Coordination Center among others.

All in all, an amount approximately equivalent to US$1.55 billion was confirmed by the WAPP Donors over the 4-day Roundtable and Coordination Meetings.