From now on, the motor vehicle tax (TVM) paid by lorry drivers will be checked at designated weighing points. This was announced by the Office Togolais des Recettes (OTR) and the Société Autonome de Financement de l'Entretien Routier (SAFER).

"Before checking up weight and axle load of lorries and others, payment receipts of the TVM must be presented,'' reads the statement issued by the OTR and SAFER. Control will begin on September 1, at Djerehouten’s weighing station which is on the N°1 national road, in the  Plateaux region.

Lorries must comply with gauge, weight, and axle load standards. This is important to ensure road safety and preserve infrastructures along the Lomé-Ouagadougou-Niamey and Abidjan-Lagos corridors that pass through Togo; so is collecting the motor vehicle tax (TVM), as 85% of these revenues are used for road maintenance in Togo

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Brazil, South Africa, India, the UK, Russia, Portugal, and Tunisia. Those coming to Togo from these seven countries will automatically be quarantined for 72 hours upon arrival.

According to the Togolese ministry of health, the decision follows “the discovery of new variants of Coronavirus that are highly virulent and spreading rapidly in these countries.” 

The quarantine holds “regardless of the Covid test result” of the passengers concerned. This was disclosed in a letter to the director-general of the national agency for civil aviation (ANAC). 

A similar measure - a 10-day quarantine - was taken on July 13, 2021. The measure concerned passengers from Brazil, South Africa, India, the UK, Russia, and Portugal.

Esaïe Edoh 

The World Bank approved last Thursday the disbursement of $60 million (about CFA33 billion) by the International Development Association (IDA) to support education in Togo. The funds will enable the implementation of the “Improving Quality and Equity of Basic Education Project” in Togo. 

The monies will be injected into the government’s 2020-2030 Education Sectoral Plan. This was disclosed in a statement released by the World Bank, and obtained by Togo First. 

In detail, some of the funds will “boost primary and middle school education, as well as improve the overall management of the education system.”  Part will also be used to build classrooms, train teachers, reform curricula, and raise schooling rates of girls in remote areas. 

Hawa Wague, the resident representative of the World Bank in Togo, declared regarding the financing that it will “contribute to the government’s 2025 roadmap by supporting key projects aimed at raising school capacities and the quality of education, towards increasing the country’s human capital ranking.”

The project, let’s recall, was announced a few days after the Togolese government said it would pay school fees of public middle school and high school students for the 2021-2022 academic year.

 Esaïe Edoh

Lomé’s airport will be equipped with a PV solar plant. To this end, a tender was launched to hire the firm that will carry out the project. 

The selected company will design, deliver and install the plant, said Société Aéroportuaire de Lomé Tokoin (SALT) which launched the tender. SALT indicated that the tender’s winner will also finance the project. 

In 2016, the airport was renovated and expanded. It now receives two million passengers per year, against 600,000 at the time of the renovation. The works had cost $150 million (CFA83 billion). 

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To implement its 2020-2025 development program, the Golfe 6 municipality (in the south-eastern part of Lomé) will raise CFA3.4 billion.

The plan was approved last Friday and according to the municipality’s authorities, 44% of the funds will come from the municipality itself, 1% from the civil society, and 55% from partners.

The plan revolves mainly around three axes. The first aims to improve administrative, financial, and sociopolitical governance. The second seeks to develop a diversified, sustainable economy where decent jobs will be created. The third and last axis aims to improve living standards and access to basic social services. 

The mayor of the Golfe 6 municipality, Jean-Baptiste Dagbovie, noted that the plan’s major objective is to “improve living standards of all social layers of the population.” 

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The price of a 50 kg bag of fertilizer is kept at CFA12,500 for the 2021-2022 agricultural campaign. The decision was announced by the government which explained it is part of steps to mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and support farmers. 

As part of these measures, the ministry of agriculture distributed over 80,000 t of farm inputs. Out of these, 38,000 t have been used. The inputs are dispatched via more than 450 approved sales points across the country. 

The government also mobilized certified seeds - 2,566 t of corn, rice, soybean, peanut, cowpea, and sesame seeds. 

Lomé’s support to farmers drove up fertilizer consumption in the country. “The volume of fertilizer consumed at the end of the first half of 2021 exceeds by more than 21% the average volume consumed between 2015 and 2020; it reached about 60% in the Savanes,” the ministry of agriculture declared. 

Agriculture contributes 40% of Togo’s GDP, and the government, with this in mind, decided to develop the sub-sectors of this industry that have great potential for job creation and export. 

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Nouvelle société cotonnière du Togo (NSCT) started last Wednesday a 3-day workshop for its new field agents. This is to reinforce their skills, according to the firm’s management.

The new agents, 82 of them in all, will be trained regarding their function - technical and commercial, and be deployed later. 

Ultimately, the workshop aims to boost Togo’s cotton production, by raising the farmer-to-field agent ratio. The NSCT expects cotton output to reach 135,000 t in the 2021-2022 season after it fell by 43% from 117,000t to 66,000 t in 2020-2021. 

To improve the situation, the company took many steps, such as disbursing CFA9 billion to refinance the current campaign - the money will be used to buy input for 180,000 hectares of planting areas - or setting up a weather alert system to foresee rain issues experienced in the previous season. It (the NSCT) also spent CFA4.6 billion to rehabilitate factories, replace spare parts, as well as purchase and install management software. 

The NSCT, a limited company, is 51% owned by the Singaporean OLAM International Group, 25% by the National Federation of Cotton Producers Group (FNGPC), and 24% by the Togolese State.

Esaïe Edoh

The first phase of the WACA ResIP (West Africa Coastal Areas Management Program) will begin next October. It will cover the towns of Gbodjomé, in Togo, and Sanvi Kondji, in Benin. 

In Togo, this phase will include erecting seven groins (lines of rocks set perpendicularly to the ocean's edge or on a river bank to slow down water currents and limit sand movements) between Agbodrafo and Kpémé, and rehabilitating six groins and a breakwater previously built in Aného. 

In Aneho, still, a seawall will be built to face storms recorded between June and September.  

In preparation of the works, environmental and social impact studies have been carried out in concerned towns. As part of these studies, authorities and populations have been in talks since August 23 regarding the reintegration of communities affected by the project.

According to Foli-Bazi Katari, minister of environment and forest resources, protecting the coast cannot be achieved while ignoring affected communities.

“The goal of this project is, not only to stop the advance of the sea but to enhance our coastline to get all the benefits,” said Edem Kokou Tengue, minister of maritime economy and coastal protection. He mentioned the construction of  a bike path in Aného.

WACA ResIP, let’s recall, is part of a larger program steered by the World Bank, and aimed at tackling coastal erosion and sea pollution in West Africa. 

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During its latest council of ministers, held on Aug. 25, the Togolese government announced the creation of a program to take care of pregnant women and newborn babies. Named Wezou (or Life in English), the program is an extension of the State’s measure to subsidize C-sections in public health centers.

In detail, the State will support women; from the confirmation of pregnancy to delivery. “This will cover prenatal visits, examinations during pregnancy, some drugs, and delivery to a given extent,” said Prof. Ayewouadan Akodah, minister of communication and spokesman of the government.

This program is aimed at “lowering maternal and neonatal mortality rates, as part of the ambition to boost social inclusion and modernize the country as stated under the government’s roadmap,” the Togolese authorities said. “It integrates progressively, all the services of care for pregnant women from the confirmation of the pregnancy until the 42nd day after delivery,” reads the statement of the Council of Ministers.

According to Akodah, this measure “focuses on prevention, as women who go for medical visits are better diagnosed.” 

Esaïe Edoh