Burkina Faso wants to build eight additional solar photovoltaic power plants with a total capacity of 100 MW in 7 of its regions, Alpha Oumar Dissa, the energy minister, said. Two of these plants, 10 MW and 20 MW, will be implemented in the Central region while one (15 MW) will be set up in Sahel and another one of 10 MW in the East.  As for Boucle du Mouhoun, it will have a plant of 15 MW...

Côte d’Ivoire plans to raise by one third its power supply to Mali, Thierry Tanoh (photo), Ivorian minister of oil, energy and renewable energy development, announced during a meeting with the Malian Prime Minister, Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga. “We increased to a minimum of 33%, compared to what we provided before. We also discussed the collaboration that could exists between Côte d’Ivoire...

Okapi resources, listed on ASX, announced it has executed on Jan. 21 an option agreement with Rubamin FZC to acquire 70% interest in Tenke, Luisha and Ntondo mining licences on copper and cobalt in DRC. According to the agreement’s terms, Okapi should invest in the above-mentioned licenses located in “Katanga Copper” belt. It should also carry out a pre-feasibility study on these...

Côte d’Ivoire has mobilized CFA3.68 trillion (about $6.9 billion) of tax and customs incomes, in 2017. Tax revenues account for CFA1.96 trillion ($3.7 billion), an increase by CFA304 billion ($574 million), a 15.5% increase compared to last year. However, this amount is slightly down by CFA30.9 billion ($58.3 million) from the initial target (CFA1.99 trillion or $3.76...

In Côte d’Ivoire, the Coffee-Cocoa Council (CCC) sold an extra 80,000 tons of cocoa to local exporters for 2017-18 main season, Bloomberg reports. According to a source interviewed by the agency, the sale was finalized on Jan. 19, 2018 and was carried out directly rather than through the usual anticipatory sale. The regulator didn’t make any comment. However, the sale comes...

West African Development Bank (BOAD) has just mobilized  €77 million (more than CFA50 billion) for the construction of Kita photovoltaic plant. The funding has been co-arranged by BOAD, Emerging Africa Infrastructure Fund and Mali’s national bank for agricultural development. The regional bank disbursed CFA13.1 billion in equity and will soon raise the first tranche ,which consists of...

In Zambia, dry weather is a threat to maize output, in this 2017-18 season. The production could indeed fall from 3.6 million tons to 1.8-2 million tons if drought currently recorded in the main production areas persists till February. “A lot of the maize crop had wilted and this is very bad because it has hit the maize belt. If this trend continues into February, we are in...

Afric’innov fund, which provides young African entrepreneurs with financing at the beginning of their career, launched its seed fund on January 18. It focuses on capital provision to innovative companies. This fund, worth €450,000, will be granted to Africans who have implemented innovative projects in digital sector, either as honor loans (interest-free loans) or as seed...

Acquisitions by foreign firms in Egypt will rise by 180% to stand at $4.2 billion in 2018, Chicago-based international business law firm, Baker McKenzie, revealed. According to the firm, this strong progress will be fostered by a 50% devaluation of local companies’ value in US dollar compared to Egyptian pound. Barker’s estimates show that foreign companies increased their...

Initiated by WAEMU’s commission, with authorities of Burkina Faso and Togo, a project to interconnect IT systems of Burkina Faso and Togo is actually being implemented. Its aim is to equip and end traffic facilitation between both countries. Another goal is to reduce time spent at Cinkansé’s opposed checkpoints, from 2-3 days currently, to 1-2 hours.  In this regard, modern and...