West Africa-EU trade deal may boost energy project funding

The EU-Africa Infrastructure Trust Fund, which pools the resources of the European Commission, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the financial institutions of individual European Union states, and the African Development Bank, is considering financing for a number of West African energy projects. These include a 400km, 225kV interconnection between Nouakchott and the Senegalese city of Tobène, at an estimated cost of E175m ($241m). This would allow Mauritania to export power from a planned power station fuelled by gas from the offshore Banda field, to be financed by Société Mauritanienne d’Electricité, mining parastatal Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière de Mauritanie, and Canada’s Kinross Gold Corporation.