AFC Consortium to Build 88 km Port Harcourt Ring Road

Project expected to revitalize city significantly

Lagos, 6 April, 2008—The Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) and the Rivers State Government have committed to build an ultra modern high capacity ring road around the city of Port Harcourt. AFC President and Chief Executive Officer Austine O. Ometoruwa and Mike Osime, Managing Director and CEO, ICMG Securities signed a memorandum of understanding with Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi on this significant public-private partnership in Port Harcourt on Friday 4 April.

The 88-kilometre $700 million ring road will be the largest municipal highway project in Africa, and is expected to be a catalyst to the city’s economic development.  The Ring Road will support Port Harcourt’s ambition of becoming a regional commercial hub, and forms an integral component of the Rivers State Government’s Master Plan for the revitalization of the city. The Master Plan includes the establishment of a new town north of the airport. 

China Harbour Engineering Company (CHEC) will construct the ring road. CHEC is responsible for some of the world’s most outstanding civil engineering structures, including Beijing’s six ring roads. The other technical partner is Roughton International, a world leader on highways with a presence in over 40 countries.

AFC will lead the project development, management, and financial structuring of the private-sector led partnership, which includes AFC financial partner ICMG Securities. The ring road’s completion is expected within 30 months, and will feature accompanying commercial developments, that will both ease crippling congestion and dramatically improve the city’s economic competitiveness.

Ometoruwa said “AFC is committed to the successful on-budget completion of the project within the 30-month time frame.” He stressed that “this is the kind of urban development that is necessary to drive broader infrastructure growth and advancement in Africa.”

AFC is a hybrid investment bank and development finance institution devoted to driving the development of infrastructure in Africa. Among other projects, it is leading the development of a $1billion deep sea port in Olokola off the coasts of Ogun and Ondo States and financing an emergency power project in Guinea-Bissau. The other co-financing party on the memorandum of understanding is ICMG Securities Limited