(Ecofin Agency) - Huawei International has officially started construction works for the first stage of the national fiber optic backbone project, on December 10, 2017. This stage which extends on a distance of 2,001 km was officially launched in Gaoua, in the region of Bafuji, by the president of the Republic, Roch Marc Christian Kaboré (photo). 

This first phase is estimated to cost CFA50 billion. It was financed via a 12-year loan with a 3-year grace period, backed by the Bank of China (60%) and BNP Paribas (40%).

French engineering group Tactis will be in charge of monitoring and controlling of works which will last a year. 

According to Hadja Ouattara/Sanon, the minister of digital economy and posts’ development, once these works are completed, Burkina Faso will have in all, nearly 2,957km of optical fiber. The 2,001km installed under the national backbone project will indeed add up to the 307km installed under the West African interconnection project, and the 650km laid under the government’s Cloud project.

Following the first stage of the national backbone project, the second will allow for the installation of 8,000km of optical fiber throughout the country. According to Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, the government is “strongly committed to insuring that all the country’s regions are interconnected, and that many of its communities are also interconnected”.