Three companies – China Engineering Company, African Global Group and Frontline Advisors – have been shortlisted and issued with a request for proposals for the construction of the 1,100km railway connecting Tema and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital.
The shortlisting of the 3 companies took place during a third phase of bilateral engagements held in Accra on Thursday, April 22, which brought together officials from the Ministry of Railways Development, transaction advisors, the pre-qualified consortia and a delegation from the Republic of Burkina Faso led by its Minister of Transport, Urban Mobility and Road Safety, Mr Vincent Timbindi Dabilgou.
The construction of the railway line is scheduled to commence in the first-quarter of 2022.
In an interaction with the media, Railways Development Minister, John-Peter Amewu, expressed the hope that the project, when completed, would yield mutual benefits for both Burkina Faso and Ghana.
“It is based on some mode of evaluation that we came down to these three. So, these three are now going through competitive evaluation processes, which we expected to end in the next three months”, he said.
“Projects of this nature take into consideration your financial capability, technical capability, your past experience and your ability to demonstrate that you can do it,” he added.
Touching on the timelines for the interconnectivity project, Mr Amewu noted that the bidders’ conference was a critical point toward the rollout date.
It is expected that submissions of technical and financial proposals by the bidders will be made in mid-July 2021, which will allow for an evaluation to be carried out in August.
Further negotiations are expected to take place ahead of the rollout of the project in the first quarter of next year.
