The African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) on Tuesday, 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, Executive Vice President, Intra-African Trade Bank at Afreximbank, Kanayo Awani, said 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 specialised 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 presentations 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 countries where expertise existed. They also said including local content requirements 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 $200 million with Hassan Allam; US$30 million with Grainer Angola; $50 million with DOTT Services; $200 million with Arab Contractors; $200 million with FDI; and $300 million with Elsewedy.
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