In the next five years to come, Togo will invest as much in road infrastructures as it did over the past decade - nearly XOF1,000 billion. 

Key projects that will capture the investments include building the Lomé-Cinkassé highway and modernizing the Avépozo-Aneho axis. The preservation of Togolese coasts is also a priority for the government. 

The construction of a multipurpose platform at Adakpamé and a dry port at Cinkassé in the next five years should also help decongest the port of Lomé.  

Moreover, many crossroads are planned to improve access to rural areas and markets. These include the following axes: Lomé-Vogan, Lomé-Kpalimé, Notsé-Agou, Aouda-Kara. 

Lomé plans also to build a bypass around Sokodé, rehabilitate roads in Tsévié, Kpalimé, Atakpamé, Sokodé, Bassar, and Mango, among others.

From 2010 to 2019, the government’s investments in agriculture surged from XOF25.99 billion to XOF50.79 billion. 

This helped boost the wealth created by the sector from XOF644 billion to more than XOF1,350 billion. 

Regarding food security, the coverage rate of food needs stood at 137% (2019), for plant-based foods, and 60% for meat products. Also, the country was able to prevent corn prices from exploding as they did in 2005.  

Due to its performances, Togo’s agriculture was distinguished in 2013 and 2015 by the FAO, thus lauding its exceptional efforts to improve food and nutritional security.

Over the past decade, a total of XOF300 billion has been invested in port infrastructures. This money was used to modernize the infrastructures such as the port of Lomé which is now the first container port in West Africa. Also, a fishing port was built in Gbétsogbé with financing from the Japanese cooperation. This project aimed at boosting the contribution of fishing to the Togolese economy. 

From 2.3 million tons in 2005, the containerized tonnage of the port of Lomé, driven by various modernization efforts, rose to 19 million in 2018. Last year, the port handled container traffic of 1.5 million TEU.

On the other side, XOF75 million was spent to modernize and expand the Gnassingbé Eyadéma international airport (AIGE).  

Subsequently, the number of passengers recorded at the AIGE from 2005 to 2018 went from 220,000 to 809,000. Over the same period, freight tonnage soared from 10,000 t to 135,000 t.

Séna Akoda

Togolese authorities recently received equipment for protection against the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak which emerged in China some weeks ago and spread to other parts of the world. 

The equipment was provided by the World Health Organization (WHO) which considers Togo as a level 2 priority (on a scale of 3) nation regarding risk of exposure to the virus.  

The equipment will help “sub-Saharan African countries prepare, especially at their borders,” says Dr. Tidiane Fatouma Diallo, resident representative of the WHO in Togo. 

To protect itself against the epidemics, Togolese authorities have already set safety measures at airports, in coordination with neighboring States. 

Let’s note that while cases of coronavirus are currently concentrated in Asia, the first case in Africa was recorded last week, in Egypt. 

Last week, the National Agency for Sanitation and Public Hygiene (ANASAP) launched in Lomé a project to clean the beach. 

It is part of the West Africa Coastal Areas Management Program (WACA ResIP), backed by the World Bank, which focuses on tackling coastal erosion, flooding and pollution of West African coasts. 

ANASAP’s initiative is estimated to cost about XOF168 million (of which around 115 million is paid by WACA ResIP) and cover a three-year period. In its framework, Lomé’s beach, over a 7km distance from the border with Ghana to Hotel Sarakawa, will be cleaned. 

Funds provided for the project will be spent to buy a cleaning machine, garbage bins, modern toilets, and used to set up a water tower equipped with solar panels. 

Besides cleaning, the project will also focus on raising awareness of populations to keep the beach neat.

Insurer NSIA has teamed up with the Togolese Post Company (SPT) to offer insurance products. This was disclosed by the SPT yesterday, February 17.

From now on, clients or potential clients of NSIA Insurance can subscribe to the following insurances at a post office: Travel insurance, NSIA Auto and NSIA Dagbe. 

This is good news for the post office which recently entered a similar partnership with TogoCom and Moov, making the operators’ mobile money services, Tmoney and Flooz, accessible in remote areas, via SPT dispatched agents. 

Séna Akoda

Initially set to expire this month (February 29), the Cotonou partnership agreement will finally expire in December 2020. 

The decision to extend the expiry date of the ACP-EU agreement was reached last Friday. It was the conclusion of the first session of talks between the two chief negotiators of the two parties concerned, Robert Dussey (who is also Togo’s minister of foreign affairs) for the ACP, and Jutta Urpilainen, for the EU. 

The agreement which was effective since June 2000, will, therefore, remain in vigor with no amendment.  

In the meantime, “EU and ACP teams will continue negotiations, merging proposals and fine-tuning the text of the agreement. These include the general provisions, means of cooperation, institutional framework and final provisions,” they said. 

Let’s recall that talks for a new agreement began in September 2018, in New York, on the sidelines of the United Nations general assembly. The new agreement should redefine terms of the existing partnership agreement between ACP countries and the European Union