Faso Rail Mulls FCFA 70B Rail Manufacturing Facility
The Government of Burkina Faso announced plans to set up its own plant to produce rail tracks with an investment to the tune of FCFA 70 billion (EUR 110 million). The company, named Faso Rail, will majority-owned by the government with a 75% shareholding and 25% will be available to the public and private sector.
Faso Rail will be given the mission to give a boost to the development of railway network in Burkina Faso, while creating jobs locally. The Local Value Addition (#LVA) will leave more benefits in Burkina Faso as well.
Initially Faso Rail will produce rail tracks, but the company has in its roadmap the manufacturing of wagons, and other railway components and spare parts. Eventually, Faso Rail even ambitions to build locomotives with technology transfer from a strategic partner.
Traditionally, Burkina Faso has been known for its rich deposits. Thus, the iron needed too make the rail tracks might have to be sourced from nearby countries such as Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, or Mauritania. The development of a regional rail network will create and build up a regional value chain (#RVC) in the steel industry.
The Government of Burkina Faso believes that rail is the most suitable mode of transport given its efficiency. Being a landlocked country, Burkina Faso has to access the Atlantic Ocean via neighboring countries such as Togo, Cote d’Ivoire or Ghana.
Therefore, eventually the domestic railway network will be interconnected with the neighboring states to form a regional network which will bring down transportation costs and will foster exchanges in the sub-region.
It is to be recalled that in December 2023, Burkina Faso and Cote d’Ivoire jointly kicked off the overhaul of the railway line linking the Burkinabe capital Ouagadougou and the Ivorian port city of Abidjan.
According to the master plan, the Ouadagoudou rail line then extends northwards to the border with Niger, reaches Niamey before heading south to Benin, before ending at the seaport of Cotonou.