A week ago, on July 19, Togo’s minister of maritime economy met with economic operators from Burkina Faso. They talked about issues the operators face at the dry port of Adétikopé–mainly slow stuffing and unstuffing operations, delays in container transfers, and their high costs. 

Some of the solutions proposed by Tengue to tackle these issues include hiring more staff, setting up a system to inform importers about their containers, and some measures to cut costs. 

The dry port, let’s emphasize, has a storage capacity of 12,500 TEU. Active since January 2022, it was established to free up space at the port of Lomé and has, so far, registered more than 300 containers, according to its coordinator, Vanessa Attivor.

Esaïe Edoh

In December 2021, CanalBox became the leading provider of fixed broadband in Togo, by users. The fiber-to-the-home supplier of Vivendi Africa Group (GVA) stripped the crown from Togo Telecom. 

It doubled its number of subscribers from 18,000 to 36,000 in the past year, while Togo Telecom lost more than 4,000 of them (Ed. note: from 32,000 to 28,000). 

CanalBox dominates the market with over 54% of its shares - that is more than the shares of the other operators, including Togo Télécom, Café Informatique, and Teolis, combined.  

But… 

Togo Telecom keeps its crown in terms of turnover. Last year, it earned CFA34 billion, its highest since 2017, while CanalBox earned only CFA5.7 billion. 

Together, both competitors generated 96% of the revenues of the broadband market in Togo, a market worth more than CFA40,000 billion. The gap between their revenues, however, can be explained by their offers’ structures, and the types of clients that they serve. 

Indeed, although GVA has launched a business offer in addition to its residential packages for the general public - fiber to the home (CFA15,000 and CFA30,000), Togo Telecom still benefits from its historical customer base, big companies especially. Also, Togo Telecom’s offers seem more varied, including nearly a dozen packages ranging from CFA15,000 to CFA200,000 for business offers.

Fiacre E. Kakpo

Application notices for land registration are now available on the digital portals of the Office Togolais des Recettes (OTR) and the Journal Officiel de la République Togolaise. This was revealed by Philippe Kokou Tchodié, Commissioner General of the OTR, in a press release issued earlier this month. 

The step, according to the source, is part of reforms to dematerialize land deed registration in Togo. "In addition, the reduced physical version, green in color, can be withdrawn by applicants at the information office of the Directorate of Land Registry, Land Conservation, and Registration and the Regional Divisions of the Land Registry," he added.

Let’s recall that Togo’s government wants to digitalize 75% of administrative procedures by 2025.

Togolese citizens are no longer required to get a visa to travel to Morocco. They can do so just with their passport now. In Rabat, a deal was inked to this end on July 21, 2022. 

“Dear fellow citizens, I am pleased to announce on behalf of the President of the Republic, that from today, July 21, all Togolese holding the ordinary passport of our country can enter and leave Morocco (vice versa) without a visa,” announced on Twitter, Robert Dussey, Togolese Minister of Foreign Affairs.

This is a two-way agreement and according to Nasser Bourita, Morocco’s Minister of foreign affairs, it “reflects the quality of human relations between the two countries.” 

The deal, which should reinforce cooperation between Togo and Morocco, adds to other initiatives aiming at the same objective. These include, for example, the recent opening of a Togolese embassy in Morocco, and the preparation of a Togo-Morocco business forum.

Esaïe Edoh

The President of Togo, Faure Essozimna Gnassingbé, his Prime Minister, Victoire Tomégah-Dogbé, and several ministers, were in Dapaong on July 20, 2022, to meet with the people of the Savanes region. The visit comes shortly after terrorists killed many in that part of the country. 

The President reiterated his commitment, through the defense and security forces (DFS), to deal with the issue. 

He also said that the government will boost efforts to counter and eradicate terrorism in the country, before urging the people to be more cautious and cooperate with the DFS. 

At the meeting, the region’s active forces (elected officials, traditional leaders, religious communities, youth, women ...) suggested some ways to curb the attacks. Their suggestions will “contribute to and enrich decisions and measures taken by the country’s authorities to protect human lives and bolster security, and protect both the people and the national territory.” 

The Savanes region, it should be recalled, has recorded three deadly attacks in which many died and others were injured.

Esaïe Edoh

At its heart, the West Africa Coastal Areas Management Program (WACA) aims to protect coasts in several West African countries. 

In Togo, for example, the goal of this World Bank program is to mitigate or stop natural erosion along the country’s coast. This is as the phenomenon is accelerated by the soil type, a low and flat topography, heavy rains and floods, and human activity such as the port of Lomé. 

The distance covered by the program in Togo spans 42 km, going from Agbodrafo (around 30 km west of Lomé) to Grand Popo (in Benin). 

Building and rehabilitating groins 

As part of the WACA, protective groins will be rehabilitated and built between these two points. Beaches will be replenished with breakwaters as well.

“Our contract to protect the coast, from Agbodrafo to Grand Popo (Benin), is jointly carried out by Togo and Benin. In the first phase, we plan to rehabilitate six existing groins in Aneho and extend them by 10 m at least. The breakwater will also be rehabilitated and extended by 200 m,” Cesar Eusebio, a coast engineer involved in the project told Togo First.  

“Between basins (the space separating two groins), we will refill the beach with sand taken from the open sea, very far from the coast. A sand dyke is also planned to protect houses along the coast from flooding,” the expert added.

Nine months of work 

From Agbodrafo to Kpeme, seven rock groins should be laid, with a length of 65 m to 75 m. Moreover, the rehabilitated groins will be filled with sand. 

In Aneho, a breakwater will be set up at the sea mouth to prevent tempest and unusually strong waves from flooding nearby houses. 

A 20-year lifespan

The constructions should last 20 years, according to Franz Thomassen, project chief at Boskalis, the Dutch firm that secured the contract covering Togo and Benin. The works are monitored by INROS-LACKNER and are set to end between October 2022 and June 2023. 

"We will use the "good season" of the sea for the construction of longitudinal groins in Aného, it will be between October 2022 and June 2022. During this period, we will work on the constructions in the open sea," Thomassen told Togo First.

“Ahead of the 'good season' we are doing the preliminary work, that is reinforcing sites where the riprap (ed. note: used for the work in the open sea) will be stored and we started this preliminary work in June 2022,” he added. 

Togo and Benin have already spent €63 million on this project, with the support of their partners.

Ayi Renaud Dossavi

Fily Sissoko is since July 1st, 2022, the World Bank’s new resident representative in Togo. The Ivorian officially took office in Lomé this week, according to a statement released today, July 20, by the Bretton Woods institution. 

"It is with great enthusiasm that I take office in Togo, to strengthen the already fruitful partnership between the country and the World Bank Group. I come to a country where the strong commitment of the leaders to structural socio-economic transformation is manifested through important actions and projects in several areas," said Fily Sissoko. "Our current portfolio is already doing well, but I will work to further boost it to provide sustainable solutions to the problems of the people," he added.

Indeed, the world bank’s portfolio in Togo has quadrupled in size in the past four years, due to better public management policies. 

An audience with the Prime Minister

On July 19, 2022, the new resident representative was given an audience by PM Victoire Tomegah Dogbe. 

“It was a great honor to be received by the Prime Minister at the beginning of this mission. We talked about development priorities and the WB’s support of the government. Our priority is to help the government implement its roadmap,” Sissoko said just after the audience.

A 20-year experience at the World Bank 

Fily Sissoko joined the World Bank in 2002 as a financial management specialist at the Dakar branch. He has since held various positions, most recently as practice manager, global governance practice, East Asia and Pacific Region, and was based in Bangkok, the World Bank reports. He is the Bank’s 20th resident representative in Togo since 1982 when the institution opened its office in the country. Sissoko replaces Hawa Cisse Wague, whose mandate ended on June 30.

To date, the World Bank's portfolio in Togo amounts to $917.5 million, covering 19 projects and programs in key development areas, such as good governance, improved public financial management, health, environment, urban development, energy, local development, and social protection, education, and agriculture and employment for vulnerable youth.

Ayi Renaud dossavi

The Togolese government dedicated nearly a third (32%) of its budget spending to public investment over the past three years, according to data compiled by Togo First. 

From CFA241.2 billion in 2018, capital expenditures rose to CFA379.8 billion in 2019 and peaked at CFA394.2 billion in 2020. This represents an average increase of 59.8% over the period. It is, however, below what the government was aiming at in its 2021-2023 state program budget. In 2019, Lomé planned to devote CFA241 billion to capital expenditures, 474 billion in 2020, and 431 billion last year. 

The government claims that the surge was driven mainly by “spending on the rehabilitation of health centers, the construction, and rehabilitation of roads and rural tracks, as well as on spending to get the equipment needed to fight the coronavirus pandemic.”

On its Public Investments Program (PIP), the country spent a little over CFA890 billion, with over 47% of this amount or  CFA423.8 billion coming from internal resources. The remaining monies were external loans and grants (466.5 billion).

Meanwhile, spending excluding the PIP more than doubled to a total of CFA125 billion. Togolese authorities attribute this unforeseen situation to defense and security expenditures, spurred by the jihadist threat which has grown in the northern part of the county in recent years.

Fiacre E. Kakpo