Concord Times (Freetown)
Bhoyy Jalloh
10 April 2008
Sierra Leone has become the newest member of the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), a press release from the Corporation Wednesday states.
The Government on Monday 7 April in Freetown signed an instrument of acceptance of membership in the Corporation.
Austine O. Ometoruwa, AFC President and chief executive officer and Aliko Dangote, AFC director and Africa's leading industrialist met with Sierra Leonean President Ernest Bai Koroma and senior government officials in Freetown.
Minister of finance and economic development David Carew signed the membership instrument on behalf of the Sierra Leonean government.
AFC will make a significant investment in helping the country develop its key infrastructure. The corporation, working with its electricity partners , Ningbo CSI Machinery Group Co., will help the country diversify and expand from its current diesel-based power supply to low pour fuel oil (LPFO)/light crude power generation, and rehabilitate the transmission and distribution capacity of the power sector.
It will also support rehabilitation of the country's transport infrastructure, including the refurbishment and extension of the port.
President Koroma enthusiastically welcomed the operations of AFC as "a development that was long overdue for Africa. This continent has long been in need of an international organisation of this calibre, driven by capable African professionals that will make the advancement of African infrastructure a priority.
This visit by the AFC and the corporation's strong support for Sierra Leone is validation of the value of such an international organisation, and is why Sierra Leone is pleased to be joining as a member." Speaking at a reception hosted by President Koroma at State House in honour of the visiting delegation, Ometoruwa said "the AFC is delighted to have Sierra Leone become a member of the organisation. We are committed to helping the country develop its infrastructure, and thus bolster economic growth and reduce poverty." Aliko Dangote said "AFC will send a technical team to Freetown next week to work with the authorities to start looking at the various areas of endeavour and examine costs. This corporation is serious about setting Sierra Leone on a sustainable path of development." AFC is a private sector-led investment bank and development finance institution created to help mobilize and channel required capital towards driving Africa's economic development. Among other projects, it is leading the development of a $1billion deep sea port in Olokola off the coasts of Ogun and Ondo States of Nigeria, and developing an emergency power project in Guinea-Bissau.
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