Seychelles to benefit from more BADEA help |02 June 2016

Seychelles is to benefit from more help from the Arab Bank of Economic Development in Africa.

The opportunity for more help comes after the Bank’s Board of Directors has approved the financing of new development operations in Africa, amounting to a total of US $138.875 million. The approval was granted during the Arab Bank of Economic Development in Africa’s (BADEA) second board of directors meeting which is currently being held at the Kempinski Resort at Baie Lazare.

Seychelles is to benefit directly through a grant in favour of the Public Utilities Corporation (PUC) customer services division. The funding will help the company improve on its marketing campaigns, general administration as well as services provided to the community.

The agreement to seal the cooperation was signed by the Minister for Finance, Trade and the Blue Economy Jean-Paul Adam and the chairman of BADEA’s board of directors Yousif Bin Ibrahim Al Bassam, at the opening of the board meeting yesterday morning.

After the signing, Minister Adam commended BADEA for its presence in Africa for the past 35 years, especially in Seychelles which he reminded has benefitted from the Bank’s partnership. This has been in the fields of infrastructure, energy, transportation and tourism.

Projects financed by BADEA include the modernisation of the Seychelles International Airport, provision of utilities infrastructure for Ile Persévérance, improvement of the electricity network in south Mahé and construction of post secondary institutions. These are the Seychelles Institute of Technology (SIT), Seychelles Maritime Academy formerly the Maritime Training Centre (MTC) and the Seychelles Tourism Academy (STA).

“Through technical support in a total of 25 projects amounting to over US $90 million, BADEA has assisted the Seychelles’ government and its agencies to develop and implement policies and programmes to continuously improve the quality of life of the people. […] It is with much pride that I say that the projects have contributed positively to the socio-economic development of the country”, Mr Adam said.

The minister also commented that it was a great honour for Seychelles to have been chosen as the host country for this very important meeting.

Altogether, BADEA has financed development projects in Africa since 1975, amounting to a total of more than US $5 billion.