In an interview with El Watan, land right consultant, Ahmed Ali Abdelmalek, said that since 1962, when Algeria got its independence, 282,700 ha of agricultural lands were used for other means than they had been initially planned to. “From 1962 to 2015, 282,700ha of agricultural lands were used for housing, collective social equipment, roads, tourism and industrial infrastructures. It should...

The African Development Bank (AfDB) announced in a statement published on December 16, 2016, it has lent Ivory Coast €769.78 million to build road infrastructures in Abidjan, the economic capital. To be more specific, the project backed by the institution involves the construction of 87.9 km of expres ways, a bridge, six interchange roads and the rehabilitation of traffic lights at 89...

Algeria’s deputy minister of Digital Economy and Modernization of Finance Systems, Mouatassim Boudiaf, announced that mobile payment will be launched in the country in 2018. Invited on Dec. 18, 2016 on the “l’Invité de la redaction” show, which is broadcasted on Radio Algérie’s channel 3, the official said mobile payment would come increase the range of digital payment services...

The board of the African Development Bank has provided $100 million to Nigeria for its power sector. The facility which comes as $80 million of loan and $20 million as own funds, will be used to rehabilitate the Kainji and Jebba hydropower dams. These works will allow the two plants to increase the actual output which is 917 MW. The aim here is to push them at full throttle, thus...

Africa Oil has announced the recommencement of drilling on the Erut-1 well in Block 13T in Kenya as earlier reported. The Erut-1 well, which was drilled on December 18th, is located on a large structural feature, north of the South Lokichar basin and is considered as a follow up well to the successful Etom-2 well which encountered 102m of net pay that had some of the best reservoir...

Sirius Petroleum has signed a contract with Schlumberger for the provision of an integrated services management (ISM) at the Ororo field, offshore Nigeria. According to the company, the contract with Schlumberger is for a multi-well campaign, which will start in the first half of 2017. The contract covers a drilling program on the Ororo field, situated within the Oil Mining Lease (OML 95), and...

Samir’s trustee has been granted another three months to complete the liquidation process and invite expressions of interest in purchasing the plant in the coming days by a Moroccan court. According to the trustee, Mohamed El-Krimi, the court has successfully approved his request for an extension to the deadline for the completion of the liquidation process for another three months. “We...

Canadian Overseas Petroleum Limited (COPL) has announced that the Mesurado-1 well, which reached final total depth on December 17, 2016 will be plugged and abandoned. Drilling operations on the exploration well began on November 21, 2016 using the drillship Seadrill West Saturn. The well, which was targeting oil in a sequence of Late Cretaceous Santonian aged sands, encountered 145 metres of net...

West Africa’s cotton output should increase by 19% in the 2016-17 season, according to forecast by the United States Department of Agriculture. It will rise to 1.9 million Mt from 1.6 million Mt the previous season. The main countries that will contribute to this increase are Burkina Faso, Mali, Cote d’Ivoire and Chad. Burkina’s will produce 20% more cotton over the period considered than...

9.039 trillion cfa. That is the amount Benin plans to spend for its development under the government’s 2016-2021 action plan. At the launch of the program entitled “Le Bénin révélé” (Benin revealed), the government discussed its plans and the means it intends to use to achieve them. “Bénin révélé” is structured around 45 major projects concerning sectors that are vital to...