The price of this market report covers 4 quarterly reports on this sector. This quarterly report will be downloadable instantly as a PDF document, with the 3 remaining reports delivered at regular intervals throughout the year.While we anticipated lacklustre growth in Côte d'Ivoire's infrastructure market in 2011, we see an increasing likelihood of growth returning to the positive territory in 2012. A combination of favourable base effects and President Alassane Ouattara's pledge to focus on much-needed and delayed infrastructure projects will propel the industry back to positive growth. Though elections were an encouraging first step towards greater political and social stability, political risk remains elevated. As such, infrastructure development will continue to rely on government spending and official development assistance in the coming years.
There are numerous factors supporting our view that the sector will post strong, albeit gradual, growth:
- News that the Henri Konan Bédié toll bridge project in Cote d'Ivoire has secured AfDB financing is an encouraging sign of progress for one of the most viable public-private partnership (PPP) projects in Sub-Saharan Africa. French construction company Bouygues has been awarded the 30-year concession under a Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model, highlighting the strong dominant position of French infrastructure companies in Cote d'Ivoire's competitive landscape.
- The Ivorian economy is undergoing its most rapid expansion in two decades. The beginning of the end of the deep political divisions within the Ivorian society has permitted economic activity to flourish, with exports and government investment picking up.
- There are also signs that the business environment in Côte d'Ivoire's oil and gas sector may be starting to recover. In December 2011, Joel Dervain, the Director General of the Societe Ivorienne de Raffinage (SIR) refinery in Côte d'Ivoire, announced plans to invest EUR1bn (US$1.44bn) to boost capacity by 80,000 barrels per day (b/d) by 2021, in order to increase its annual refining capacity to 100,000b/d.
- Cote d'Ivoire-based power company Ciprel has announced plans to build two new power plants at a cost of US$311mn, according to Reuters. The gas- and steam-powered plants will increase Ciprel's capacity by 222MW by 2014. Construction will be funded by a bond issue. This is good news for Côte d'Ivoire, as the country has been plagued by blackouts.
We expect robust 12.4% growth in construction industry value in 2012. This is a vast improvement from the estimated 11.9% fall in 2011, which occurred following the tumultuous December 2010 presidential elections. We do, however, warn that there are severe downside risks to our view. The private sector will be particularly wary of entering the country until President Ouattara demonstrates he can maintain political stability and head off potential challenges to his administration. The risk of sudden and unpredictable violent episodes also remains high.
Click for Report details:Cote d'Ivoire Infrastructure Report Q3 2012
