The signing of the financing agreements took place on Monday, December 19, 2022 in Abidjan, between the French Treasury, Côte d’Ivoire and a banking pool.
“With this financial contribution, the financing of the construction project of Line 1 of the Abidjan Metro is now covered and fully completed,” said the Ivorian Minister of Economy and Finance, Mr. Adama Coulibaly.
The meeting also witnessed the signing of the second amendment to the concession agreement, which marks the entry into force of the agreement and the effective start of work after the preparatory phases, which focused mainly on freeing up the project’s rights of way.
Mr. Adama Coulibaly praised the French Minister of Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty, Bruno Le Maire, for his “personal involvement in the outcome of this process.”
“I have noted very recently your additional efforts to increase the contribution of France to cover the increase in the cost of the project related to the price revision,” the Ivorian Minister of Economy and Finance added.
This project will provide the city of Abidjan with an ambitious public transport system.
Line 1 will link the northern communes of the Ivorian economic capital to the economic districts and the Felix Houphouet-Boigny International Airport.
It should help improve mobility and the fluidity of urban traffic in the District of Abidjan by ensuring the daily movement of more than 50,000 passengers with the passage of a train every two minutes, carrying more than 21,000 passengers per hour between Anyama and Port-Bouet, in both directions.
This loan signature also consolidates France’s position as the leading bilateral donor to Cote d’Ivoire.
The project focuses on technology, education, training and employment, as well as security.
Security, he said, is financed not only under the debt relief and development contract for a total of €2.9 billion, but also through other instruments including sovereign loans valued at €1.5 billion.
The volume of active financing, including that of the Abidjan Metro and the subsidy from the Debt Reduction Contract (C2D), amounts to €4.2 billion, or 2,596 billion CFA francs, noted Adama Coulibaly.
Mr. Bruno Le Maire welcomed this “decisive step for the realization of the Abidjan Metro,” admitting to hearing “criticism,” but he knows that “those who are doing something are criticized.”
For him, “the huge success” of this infrastructure should show that the government is at the service of the population.
He supported the interest of this metro by the fact that the big agglomerations in the world like Abidjan are “unbearable because too many people circulate and there is too much congestion,” especially on the main arteries from one point to another.
The Abidjan Metro Line 1 project was the subject of a concession agreement between Côte d’Ivoire and the Societe des Transports Abidjanais sur Rail (STAR).
It aims at improving mobility, the fluidity of urban traffic and the quality of life through the development of public transport.
AP/fss/as/APA