Togo First
MCC: Togo reports its progress in Washington
A Togolese delegation was in Washington last week, from June 6 to 10, to report the country’s progress in the Threshold Program to the top management of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC). This program is funded by the U.S. Department of State.
The West African delegation included Cina Lawson, Minister of Digital Economy and Digital Transformation, Christian Trimua, Minister of Human Rights, Frederic Hegbe, Ambassador of Togo to the U.S., Stanislas Baba, Special Advisor, and Jeanne Bougonou, Executive Director of the Millennium Challenge Account Togo.
“Minister Cina Lawson presented to MCC, the vision of Togo in the digital world being implemented and how the Threshold Program’s ICT project contributes to this vision,” said MCC.
During one of the high-level meetings held, Jeanne Bougonou, Director-General OMCA-Togo, presented the "excellent results" of the program, after 10 months of work, in terms of implementation and compliance with procedures and policies established by the MCC, implementation of the project on land reform for agricultural productivity (LRAP Project), and the project on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT Project).
The Threshold program was signed three years ago between Lomé and Washington. With a CFA20 billion ($35 million) budget, it is mainly designed to support the country in reforming and improving the ICT and land sectors. The two projects carried out in this sense should make the country’s ICT sector high quality and affordable, within four years. Also, it aims to improve the regulatory framework, especially in rural land tenure, hence facilitating investment and increasing rural productivity.
WAEMU to initiate a program to help private businesses thrive in Togo and other member countries
The WAEMU’s commissioner, Paul Koffi Koffi, was in Lomé on June 10 to discuss a program covering Togo’s Private Sector and the Union’s Department for Business Development, Mining, Energy, and the Digital Economy. On that day, he met with Nathalie Bitho, President of the Special Consular Delegation of the Chamber of Commerce of Togo (CCI-Togo).
The talks focused on the evolution of laws aimed at buttressing the private sector, particularly the regulatory framework, as well as the concerns of private economic operators.
The WAEMU Commission, through the planned program, aims to support private actors who are negatively affected by the pandemic, across all its eight member countries.
The program should also help consolidate the private sector’s achievements before the pandemic. “Currently, the Commission is considering the development and implementation of a post-crisis program to avoid losing all the gains we have made over the past decade and to restart the economic machine,” said Paul Koffi.
It should be noted that the other countries in the zone will also be involved in the process of developing the program.
Esaïe Edoh
BOAD to finance construction works on the Aléhéridé-Kpaza-Tchamberi road, in northern Togo
The Board of Directors of the Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement or BOAD (West African Development Bank) announced on 14 June 2022, at the end of its 131st ordinary session, that it had approved a CFA28 billion loan to Togo. The money will be used to build and asphalt the Aléhéridé-Kpaza-Tchamberi road (North-Togo) as part of a wider road and bridge construction project that covers the whole country.
The BOAD added that the completion of this work in the north of the country will contribute to opening up the area and facilitating economic, social, and cultural exchanges both at the national and sub-regional levels.
The facility, which also supports Togo’s rural road development policy, will help cut travel time by 66% and vehicle operating costs by 60%, along the new road, said the Bank.
Last month, the French Development Agency (AFD) also injected €30 million (nearly CFA20 billion) into the PAPR II or Rural Trails Support Program, thus supporting Togo’s policy for opening up.
The Togolese government, let’s recall, wants to build 4,000 km of rural roads in all five economic regions by 2025. Its motivation in doing so is to foster the integration of the rural environment, making it easier for households and farmers to access inputs and sales markets.
Esaïe Edoh
BOAD to pump CFA25 billion into the construction of a solar PV plant in Awandjelo, northern Togo
The Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement or BOAD will spend CFA25 billion on the construction of a solar PV plant in Kpalassi, near Awandjelo in the Kara region of Togo. The Bank approved the financing yesterday, June 14, during a board meeting.
This is the first of two major new renewable energy projects that the IFC backs through its Scaling Solar initiative; an initiative that Togo joined in July 2019. The other project, a solar park, should be located in Salimde near Sokodé, in the central region of Togo.
Initially, the IFC’s program aimed to support Togo to develop 90 MWp of solar PV energy, via projects that would be connected to the national grid and financed by private funds. The support was to be in the form of legal, regulatory, and technical analysis.
Regarding Awandjelo’s upcoming plant, it is expected to have a capacity of 42 MWp. According to the BOAD’s board, it will “help diversify the energy mix and reduce energy production costs, as well as improve the living conditions of people living in the concerned areas.”
The BOAD claims that once active, the plant should increase the share of renewables in Togo’s energy mix from 27% now to 40% in 2024, in line with the national strategy which puts this figure at 50% by 2030. Besides, the infrastructure should raise the electrification rate to 75% in 2025, from 59% in 2021.
About three years ago, Togo had almost no real installed renewable energy capacity. Since then, however, the country has launched several clean energy projects to bridge this gap–in rural areas especially, it relies a lot on solar. One of the flagship projects that Lomé undertook in this framework is Blitta’s Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed solar power plant. Built by AMEA Power, an Emirati firm, and inaugurated in 2021, this infrastructure is claimed to be the largest of its kind in Africa. The BOAD also invested in Blitta’s plant–CFA21 billion–alongside the Abu Dhabi Fund.
Adding the money it will pump into Awandjelo’s plant, the BOAD is now Togo’s biggest financial sponsor of renewable energy projects.
While no detail has yet been filtered on the private partner selected to develop, build and operate, for about 25 years, the Awandjelo solar PV plant, it is known that around 20 bidders are pre-qualified to compete for the project. They were picked following a tender issued by the Togolese Agency for Rural Electrification and Renewable Energy (AT2ER) in January 2020.
Fiacre E. Kakpo
Security: Togo declares a state of emergency in the Savanes region
After months of being plagued by Jihadists, a state of security emergency has been declared in Togo’s Savanes region. The Council of Ministers made this decision on June 13, after examining and passing a draft decree to this effect.
According to the government, the move aims to "create an environment and conditions that are conducive to the administrative and operational measures necessary for the proper conduct of military operations, the maintenance of order and security in this region.”
The recently-adopted decree will strengthen decision-making and foster greater agility of public services and defense and security forces, the Council of Ministers communiqué reads
The Ministers made the decision a day after the jihadist attack that targeted an advanced post of Koundjoaré operation, in Kpékpakandi (Kpendjal prefecture).
Esaïe Edoh
Gozem partners with IFC to finance 6,000 taxi-bike riders
Gozem announced yesterday, June 13, that it has sealed a $10 million (CFA6 billion) financing deal with the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The Uber-like startup said it would use the funds to help 6,000 taxi-bike riders, in Benin and Togo, get new vehicles and increase their earnings.
According to Gozem’s cofounder, Grégory Costamagna, IFC’s financing will help overcome financing issues that the firm’s champions face. "To finance the replacement of their vehicles, taxi-bike riders in West and Central Africa need $3 billion of loans yearly. We are therefore delighted that the IFC trusts Gozem to be at the forefront of providing affordable financing to these underserved communities," he said.
Part of the new funds will also enable Gozem to get electric bikes which, in the medium-long term, could replace gasoline-powered bikes. IFC and Gozem, in this framework, “are working together to test electric bikes in the operating conditions of taxi-bikes,” in the next 12 months.
The new partners added that large-scale adoption of hybrid bikes would “not only help cut greenhouse gas emissions significantly but also allow riders to save money, by cutting on energy and maintenance fees.”
Gozem, let’s recall, has helped over 2,000 of its champions get vehicles in 14 months, through its V+ program.
In 2021, the startup raised CFA3 billion from AAIC, Thunes (TransferTo), Momentum Ventures (SMRT), Innoport Ventures (Schulte Group), CMC Ventures (National Express), and Liil Ventures (Mobility ADO) to expand across French-speaking Africa.
Esaïe Edoh
Togo seeks a consultant to draw a new tax revenue forecasting model
As part of its Economic Governance Support Project (PAGE), Togo will draw a tax revenue forecasting model and assess the impact of tax measures on its economy. To this end, Togolese authorities recently launched a bid to recruit a consultant to perform this task.
The bid, which Togo Presse (a local newspaper) published, states that consultants have until 22 June 2022 to submit their applications. Once selected, the winning bidder will have five months to complete the task, starting in September 2022.
Launched in 2018, the PAGE mainly aims to improve public investment management and domestic revenue mobilization, as well as strengthen accountability and monitoring mechanisms for service delivery in key sectors.
The project, which is set to end in 2023, was financially backed by the World Bank and European Union. They pumped $20 million into the PAGE.
Esaïe Edoh
Togo’s ministry of agriculture prepares for a bad harvest this year
As everything points to a bad harvest for the ongoing farming season, the Togolese Ministry of agriculture met with actors in the sector last Saturday, June 11. They explored steps to take to improve yields.
Some of the signs showing that Togo’s agricultural output will be low this year include the effects of climate change, such as weather variation and phenomena–flooding and drought–which weaken the production system; Covid-19 which impairs the movement of farming input, terrorist attacks which caused farmers to flee arable lands. There is also the price of fertilizer which shot up due to the war in Ukraine.
During the meeting, the government took stock of the suggestions of agricultural actors to improve output and protect Togo from food insecurity.
It should be emphasized that Lomé has already taken some measures to help farmers cope with the difficult situation. Among others, it has supplied them with 76,000 tons of fertilizers and subsidized some of the input they need.
Esaïe Edoh
UMOA-titres: Togo records another successful bond issue
Togo secured CFA25 billion on the regional money market last Friday, through a recovery bond issue. Each bond has a nominal value of CFA10,000, a fixed interest rate of 5.3%, and will mature over 36 months.
According to the Umoa-titres agency, regional investors mobilized 77 billion CFA, or 308.86% of the amount initially sought.
So far into 2022, Togo has secured CFA288 billion on the UMOA-titres market, out of an annual target of CFA550 billion.
Esaïe Edoh
Climate Change: Togo launches a project to set up 10 smart cities
In a bid to tackle climate issues, Togo plans to set up Smart Cities. The government launched a project to this end on June 9, 2022.
In detail, a dozen municipalities will be supported in drawing a strategy for setting up these smart cities, and for preparing an action plan to mitigate and adapt to climate change, in line with municipal development plans (PDC).
The project, which was launched by the minister of the environment, Katari Foli-Bazi, is backed by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Climate Technology Centre & Networks, which is the operational arm of the Technology Mechanism of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change).
"We have all we need to succeed," the minister told the mayors and representatives of the local authorities of the 10 municipalities. "The challenge is clear. We must reinvent the cities. The effectiveness of decentralization and the prospects for local development are an opportunity to act against poverty and vulnerability of the population," said Aliou Dia, resident representative of the UN agency in charge of development, at the launch of the meeting.
The project will ultimately enable benefiting municipalities to rely on new technologies and manage space more rationally to meet challenges associated with the growing urban population, relative to land, access to water, energy, waste management, access to school infrastructure, transportation, health services, productivity/conservation or agricultural processing.
In March 2021, the government, the UNDP, and the CTCN signed an agreement regarding this same project.