Afreximbank presents platform to promote African participation in engineering, procurement and construction contracts
Mr. Mohy Abdein, Group CFOof Hassan Allam and Mrs. Kanayo Awani, Exec. VP-IATB, Afreximbank, presenting theUS$200 Million Facility agreement
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Cairo, 14 November 2023: The African
Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) in Cairo presented an intra-African Engineering,
Procurement and Construction (EPC) platform designed to empower African
contractors to successfully bid for contracts by allowing for the seamless
posting of key infrastructure projects within the EPC space in Africa for
bidding by EPC companies.
The
presentation, which took place during a workshop organised on the sidelines of
the third Intra-African Trade Fair (IATF2023), also covered various products,
programmes and initiatives developed by Afreximbank to support local companies
engaged in infrastructure contract bidding.
Addressing
the workshop, Kanayo Awani, Executive Vice President, Intra-African Trade Bank
at Afreximbank, said that the objective of the workshop was to promote African
participation in large scale African infrastructure projects and to promote the
award of EPC contracts to African entities.
“It
is our belief that this specialized capacity building programme will enable
African contractors to successfully bid for construction projects on the
continent and beyond,” she said.
The
workshop was held to share the results of a survey conducted on challenges
faced by African contractors and to also share the critical success factors in
winning projects. It also featured presentation of success stories from
companies that previously received support from Afreximbank, including Mota
Engil, Elsewedy and Hassan Allam.
The
company representatives, in their presentations, highlighted the need for
African countries to allow for the movement of labour across borders so that
EPC contractors could bring in workers from other African counties where
expertise existed. They also said that including local content requirement in
EPC contracts would help to encourage the use of local contractors and enhance
capacity building.
The
workshop was capped off with the signing of facility agreements valued at US$200 million with Hassan
Allam; US$30 million with Grainer Angola; US$50 million with DOTT Services;
US$200 million with Arab Contractors; US$200 million with FDI; and US$300
million with Elsewedy.
IATF2023, Africa’s largest trade
and investment fair, opened on November 9 and will run till November 15.