Risk Management in Transport PPP Projects
In the Islamic Countries
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works, which entailed a high capital investment. In order to finance these works, the Concession
agreement was fully revised in 2016, modifying the concession from a “affermage” to a
Rehabilitate – Operate – Transfer type of PPP scheme, therefore transferring the financing of the
rehabilitation to the private party. The value of the foreseen investment is around EUR 400
million (USD 524 million), which will cover the replacement of 853 km of railway tracks, the
renewal of 51 level crossings, 31 stations and 50 civil engineering works. In addition, the
investment includes the purchase of additional rolling stock, both for freight and passenger
transport. On the basis of this new agreement, the duration of the Concession has been extended
for additional 30 years since the entry into force of the contract. Given the historically low return
of this investment, the interest of the private party to renew the concession and incur in such
additional investment is again presumably linked with additional gains at the level of full
transport logistic chains connecting the Port of Abidjan with its hinterland.
Sources: Author’s interviews, World Bank (2006).
Follow up
As discussed in previous sections, Côte d’Ivoire has a relatively long tradition and experience in
PPPs, although only more recently in the transport sector. Since early 2010s a new phase of
Public-Private Partnerships in the country started, several efforts have been put in place to
improve the capacities and the procedures in place. Continuous improvement and capacity-
building is actually one of the responsibilities in charge of CNP-PPP, the national PPP unit. This
approach has resulted, for instance, in a first revision of the legal framework in 2018, taking
stock of the experience gained since the approval of the first PPP decree in 2012, and in the
recent introduction of new risk management tools both covering the entire project life-cycle
(CNP-PPP risk management toolkit) and the fiscal and budgetary implication of the PPP
initiatives (PFRAM tool at the Ministry of Budget).
Ex-post evaluations are not regularly performed, but this is not surprising, given the relatively
limited number of projects already concluded, especially in the transport sector, based on a
“learning by doing” approach.
5.2.8. Conclusions and recommendations
Conclusions
Côte d'Ivoire has a long experience in building Public-Private Partnerships that began in 1959
with the concession of drinking water from the city of Abidjan. Several projects were also
implemented in the transport sector, especially since 2010 and the setup of the new legislative
and institutional framework. A PPP unit was established in 2012 and it is nowadays involved in
all steps of PPP initiatives since project identification to operation.
Against this background, the following conclusions can be put forward:
 PPPs are a cornerstone of the National Development Plan adopted in 2016 and are
currently being implemented. Thanks to political and monetary stability, the perceived
reliability of the local institutions as a partner for private companies, the attractive