Togo First
Faure Gnassingbé inaugurates Lomé Data Centre, Togo’s first carrier hotel
Togo’s first carrier hotel, Lomé Data Centre, was inaugurated on June 4 by President Gnassingbé.
It took two and a half years to build the digital facility. Located in Lomé, over a plot of one hectare, the center will serve to store and secure national data, as well as provide colocation server hosting services to private operators.
“As Togo modernizes and digitizes, platforms are created. These must be hosted in a secure and reliable data center. Lomé Data Centre is a major infrastructure and is of strategic importance,” said Cina Lawson, Minister in charge of the digital economy and digital transformation.
Built by Cfao Technologies, and Centro, a Togolese company, the project was monitored by APL France, a data center expert. At a cost of CFA1.7 billion, it was financed by the World Bank, via the West African Regional Communications Infrastructure Program, WARCIP-Togo.
Lomé Data Centre is managed and operated by Africa Data Centres (ADC), a subsidiary of Liquid Intelligent Technologies. It is controlled by Société d’Infrastructures Numériques (SIN), a heritage company managing the digital assets of the Togolese state.
"The value of bringing strategic public telecommunications assets together in one entity is to ensure optimized use of the networks for all and to leave no existing network unused," said Attia Byll, Managing Director, INS.
The centre has an administrative block, five server hosting rooms (of 133 m2 each), including four for private operators. Each of the rooms is made up of 36 server bays and is connected by a fiber optic network.
The temperature will be kept low by a cooling circuit. The whole center is powered by a redundant 1 Megawatt primary power source, in addition to two 1000 kVA generators.
“The Lomé Data Center is in the process of being certified by the American Uptime Institute as a Tier 3+ facility,” said Ali-Kpohou Mayéki, coordinator of WARCIP.
Togo, let’s remind, eyes becoming a digital hub by 2025. The country has placed digitalization at the heart of its five-year development plan, and launched last February, a body to protect its cyberspace. In this framework, it is on e-ID Togo, a biometric identification project.
Klétus Situ
Togo inaugurates its first integrated industrial platform
On Sunday, June 6th, Faure Gnassingbé, the Togolese President, inaugurated the country’s first industrial platform, PIA. The ceremony took place less than a year after construction work started.
Developed over nearly 400 hectares, in Adetikopé (15 km north of Lomé), the platform materializes a new development vision: “to produce more locally, and be more competitive in international markets.” The project comes as the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is in the pipeline; it was carried out by Arise IIP (under a partnership based on Gabon’s Nkok model).
According to its promoters, the PIA aims to create high added value chains (especially in the textile sector), supply raw materials, manufacture on-site, and export finished products. The site includes an industrial zone, a park that can accommodate 12,500 containers, a storage platform for cotton and other agricultural commodities, a truck terminal, and an area of 200,000 m2 dedicated to other logistics activities.
It also has its waste treatment plant, a police station, a firefighter casern, and a single administrative desk, regrouping all services and agencies (immigration, customs, business registration, among others). The latter makes it easier for businesses and investors to handle some paperwork.
Big ambitions
Gagan Gupta, chief of Arise IIP, unveiled major ambitions regarding the project: no longer export a single gram of raw cotton by 2023, produce tens of millions of units of towels, beds, and clothing within a few years via a domestic textile unit.
According to his projections, Togo’s exports should, in value, jump “from $75 million to about $1 billion, a 12-fold increase.” This would be “a first in such a short time on the continent,” adds Gagan Gupta.
Production, of soybeans, wood, marble, or electric engines, should also grow, indicated the investor. For the project, he mobilized nearly 130 billion CFA.
The PIA is expected to create 35,000 direct jobs in the next 4 years and millions (direct and indirect) by 2030.
Commenting on the project, the Prime Minister, Victoire Dogbé, said “it is a decisive turning point for the industrialization of the country.”
Octave Bruce
PIA attests to Togo’s commitment to industrialization, says President Gnassingbe
The Adétikope Industrial Platform (PIA), which is to be inaugurated on June 6, reflects the will of President Gnassingbé to make his country an industrial hub and create added value.
"This project is just one example of what can be achieved in Togo when the Republic of Togo and all investors and companies, who are serious about creating value, work towards a common goal," said the Head of State, in a statement issued by ARISE, developer of the platform.
The PIA, lauded the leader, "will ensure that Togo gets a better share of the value-added through the development of local industry" and the creation of more jobs for youth.
According to developers, the PIA aims to create chains with high added value in Togo’s textile industry and it should act as a catalyst supporting economic growth, regional integration, and trade. This, including its integrated ecosystem which provides a wide array of tax incentives and modern facilities that foster the competitive production of local agricultural resources, notably cashew and soybeans.
Built over 400 ha, the PIA will host agrofood, pharmaceutical, recycling, and electric vehicle businesses. Already, it has signed a contract with Togo Wood Industries and Togo Agro Resources. The first is a wood company and the second will transform soybeans into edible oil notably.
Other businesses, including some Togolese companies which are part of the National Employers’ Council (CNP-Togo) are also looking for opportunities to invest there. According to the expectations of Togolese authorities, the park will generate 35,000 local jobs.
Let’s note that an industrial platform dedicated to the farmers of the Réseau des Coopératives d'Étuvage du Riz (RECER) was also inaugurated recently in Dapaong, northern Togo. The facility, developed by the Centre de Transformation et de Commercialisation du Riz (CTCR), should improve hulling and parboiling of rice. It has an estimated capacity of 1,000 tons of rice per year. For this project, the CTCR benefited from the technical support of Recherche Appui et Formation aux Initiatives d’Auto développement (RAFIA). Financial support came from Louvain Cooperation, a Belgian NGO. According to a tweet by the ministry of agriculture, the mini-plant has already produced 25 t of rice: 5kg and 25kg bags of “Riz Savana” rice.
It should be indicated that between 2008 and 2018, Togo’s rice output soared 64%, from 58,637 t to 145,000t. Over the period, the country had in place a strategy to boost rice farming (SNDR). The latter aimed mainly at developing efficient processing and commercialization solutions in the regions of Kara and Savanes.
Klétus Situ
Socioeconomic statistics of 2014-2019 to soon be available
In a few days, Togo’s socio demographic statistics, as well as its economic and financial indicators over 2014-2019, will be available. On June 3, the National Institute for Statistics, Economic and Demographic Studies (INSEED) validated the directory containing this data.
The document provides information on important data related to the economy and many sectors of activity. This data will serve public authorities, as tools to monitor and assess various development and planning programs. It will also serve as a guide for development partners and investors.
“This is one of the reports that presents a series of major retrospective statistics of the economic, social, and cultural activity of Togo. It will enable authorities to have indicators needed to monitor and assess various development projects and programs as well as national and international agenda,” said Essohanam Edjeou, Director of Cabinet of the Ministry of Development Planning.
Due to insufficient financing to collect data, says the INSEED, the document lacks some details. This should be corrected in the future, considering that Togo now benefits from a $30 million facility provided by the World Bank, for the ‘Harmonizing and Improving Statistics in West Africa’ project.
Togo’s phosphate output soared 87% in 2020
From about 700,000 t in 2019, Togo’s phosphate production almost doubled to over 1.3 million t in 2020. This is an 87% increase according to latest data from the Central Bank of West African States (BCEAO).
This surge drove the WAEMU’s output up by 23.5% - the latter reached nearly 2.9 million tons last year. Senegal, which produced 55% of the region’s output, over the period reviewed, recorded a 3% decrease in its production.
Sales up
Volumes exported by Togo also rose by 61%; from 800,000 t in 2019, the country sold 1.3 million tons the following year, in a context where global prices slumped by 13%.
In 2019, let’s recall, Togo earned CFA92 billion from its phosphate exports.
Togo-Turkey: Robert Dussey announces upcoming business forum in Lomé
Robert Dussey, the Togolese minister of foreign affairs, announced on June 3 an upcoming business forum between Togolese and Turkish business operators. The announcement came just after the official ended a five-day official visit in Turkey.
“With my counterpart, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, we have decided to organize a business forum this fall in Lomé with the participation of Turkish and Togolese businessmen and businesswomen,” Dussey tweeted.
A day before the announcement was made, the two countries inked new economic cooperation agreements. The latter, which plans for the establishment of a mixed economic commission, consolidates the legal framework that will help boost economic ties between Togo and Turkey.
“There are two agreements, the first is on the mutual promotion of investments and the second on the prevention of double taxation,” said Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.
The Togolese for his part told Agence Anadolu that “for us, the goal is mainly to encourage Turkish investment in Togo. (...) We think Turkish investments, which are growing in Africa, West Africa in particular, are welcome in Togo, especially since we have a relatively open business environment.”
In 2019, exports from Togo to Turkey generated more than CFA24 billion. According to the BCEAO, cotton and coffee were the main exports that year.
"Although the trade balance between our two countries is in favor of Turkey, which is normal since Turkey is a much more industrialized country than Togo, we have a volume of trade that is very satisfactory, " he added.
On Monday, Dussey met, in Istanbul, with representatives of the Turkish private sector. He told them about investment opportunities Togo has. This desire to boost economic ties between the two nations is the reason their ministries of foreign affairs got closer.
Indeed, in July 2020, as the Turkish minister of foreign affairs was in Togo, three cooperation deals were signed by the two governments. Among other things, these contracts established the reciprocal exemption of visas for holders of diplomatic passports, and a mechanism for political consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of both countries.
Klétus Situ
COVAX: Togo, and others, to get new funds to fight Covid-19
The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) and Japan will disburse $2.4 billion to support the States adhering to the COVAX initiative, Togo included. The decision was taken on the sidelines of the One World Protected summit, which is dedicated to Covid vaccines.
The funds, raised by 40 private and public donors, add up to $6.3 billion mobilized before the One World Protected campaign launched on April 15. The total amount exceeds the target initially set ($8.3 billion) for the Gavi COVAX AMC initiative.
It will also enable COVAX to reach its goal of delivering 2 billion doses globally in 2021 and to order, by early 2022, 1.8 billion doses of vaccine for low-income countries that adhere to the initiative.
Commenting on the summit, which he took part to virtually, President Faure Gnassingbé: “This summit, which brings together leaders from donor countries, COVAX-eligible countries, and international stakeholders in the fight against Covid-19, is a timely opportunity to discuss the challenges of equitable access to vaccines and funding for the COVAX program.”
As a member of the COVAX initiative, Togo received 200,000 doses of AstraZeneca, out of three million expected by August 2021.
Togo: Wood sector contributes 11% to GDP
Wood production contributes 11% of Togo’s GDP, a study by FAO indicates. These are mainly wood fuels, sawn timber, poles and posts, and forest products including medicinal plants, fodder, household utensils.
In addition, the first national forestry inventory conducted in 2016 indicates that timber trade generates about CFA7.77 billion per year. This report notes that in 2015, the exploitation of forest resources in Togo contributed 18.32% to GDP and created 9,095 direct and indirect jobs in the forestry sector between 2013 and 2014.
In the country, timber, firewood, charcoal, and even non-timber forest products (shea butter, honey) are mainly used by rural and urban populations, every day.
Togo, let’s emphasize, has adopted the National Forestry Investment Plan (PNIF), a 5-year (2018-2022) plan valued at CFA60 billion. It aims to protect and improve the country’s forest ecosystem.
Togo to inaugurate its first datacenter tomorrow
Next Friday, June 4th, President Faure Gnassingbé will inaugurate Togo's first data center. This was disclosed by the ministry of the digital economy and digital transformation.
The center, carrier hotel, was built in two and half years. It will be used to house sensitive data in a secure environment and will provide companies with space, energy, and a cooling circuit, allowing them to safely store their servers, network, and storage equipment.
The Tier III+ reliability level infrastructure will be a neutral colocation and sensitive data hosting facility.
Built over a hectare, by CFAO Technologies, and monitored by APL France, it will also offer the latest tech solutions.
According to the ministry of the digital economy, “this infrastructure has a major place in the realization of the 2020-2025 presidential roadmap.”
The World Bank injected CFA12.2 billion into the project, in the framework of the West Africa Regional Communications Infrastructure Program (WARCIP).
On May 21, 2021, the World Bank approved additional financing of $11 million from the International Development Association (IDA) to complete the facility’s construction.
Covid-19: How much did Togo get from lenders?
In 2020, Togo received more than CFA135 billion in budgetary support to fight Covid-19. The figure comes from the annual report on public debt issued by the ministry of finance and economy.
The supports were provided by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the International Development Association (IDA), mostly. The two Bretton Woods institutions detain nearly 69% of Togo's external debt, CFA329 billion. Other lenders were pan-African bodies.
IMF and IDA provided 76% of funds secured by the West African country to tackle the pandemic. While the first disbursed over CFA79 billion, the World Bank, which supported the Novissi program via the IDA, provided a little more than CFA23 billion.
Other entities such as the African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Banque Ouest Africaine de Développement (BOAD) disbursed respectively 12 billion and 21 billion for Togo. The BOAD mobilized 196 billion to help its member States fight the pandemic when it was at its peak.
Klétus Situ