Proceedings of the 14th Meeting of the
Transport and Communications Working Group
14
developed by the PPP Unit also covers this phase, and its gradual implementation is currently
ongoing.
 End of contract (follow up). The PPP Unit keeps a database of PPPs, which will be integrated
with the risk management toolkit and PFRAM tool.
Two project examples were described that were respectively commented as relevant for the
management of financial sustainability risks and financial credit risks:
 Third Abidjan (Henri Konan Bédié) Bridge. The scope of the bridge is to reduce congestion
on the two pre-existing bridges Houphouët-Boigny Bridge (the 1950s) and Charles de Gaulle
Bridge (1960s). The bridge was already identified in the Abidjan urban development plans
in 1952 when the city population was less than 100,000 inhabitants. It actually opened for
traffic in 2014 when the population in the metropolitan area had reached 4.7 million
inhabitants. The infrastructure is operated by SOCOPRIM under a 30 years BOT concession.
This SPV consists of Bouygues Group and the Government, holding about a 19% share of the
company equity.
The bridge can be considered a successful project in terms of functional performance. An ex-
post socioeconomic assessment conducted by the University of Chicago demonstrated that
the bridge generated significant time savings (63,380 hours of driving time) and also reduced
fuel consumption by 10% and emissions by 10%. Traffic levels are also reported to have
reached the expected threshold. On the other hand, the scheme is showing a lower than
expected financial performance in terms of generated revenues, which impacts on the
financial sustainability of the project.
Representing the first toll road in the country, communication campaigns were made for
public acceptance purposes in view of the opening of the bridge. However tolling resulted in
an issue and due to public opposition, tolls were not published until ten months after the
bridge opened. The Government finally unilaterally decided to apply prices lower than those
set in the contract, which legitimates the concessionary company to be compensated.
 Second Container Terminal/Port of Abidjan. The scope of the project relates to the
widening and deepening of the port canal, as well as building and equipping a second
container terminal at this port. A BOT PPP was awarded in 2013 and the terminal is expected
to be operational in 2021. The investment cost equals CFA 931,000 million (over USD 1.5
billion). In order to mitigate the financial credit risks of the project, the shared
implementation responsibility approach was adopted for this project. The Port Authority of
Abidjan (PAA) is responsible for the works of the channel and the berth infrastructure
[awarded to the China Harbor Engineering Company (CHEC)], whereas the private party is
responsible for equipping and operating the terminal with modern cargo handling facilities.
According to this sharing of responsibilities, the contractor will invest about USD 0.5 billion
over the concession period, which will be covered by a mix of equity and corporate
commercial financing. Over USD 1 billion is instead covered by the Port Authority by means
of own resources (15%) and a state loan from the Export-Import Bank of China (Eximbank)
(85%).