Antananarivo, December 8, 2004
— The International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, has signed an advisory mandate with the government of Madagascar to address the country's growing energy needs through implementation of a series of independent power projects. IFC is already working with the government on two mandates for the structuring and implementation of public-private partnerships for a container terminal at the port of Toamasina and 12 airports around the country.
IFC will advise on structuring and implementing the power projects through a fair, transparent, and competitive bidding process. Electricity outages are prevalent in Madagascar and severely constrain the country’s economic potential. The outages are a significant deterrent to investment in energy-intensive processing industries.
“Successful implementation of these projects will encourage private sector investment in Madagascar,” said IFC regional director Richard Ranken. “We are pleased to support the country's power sector reform and development agenda with IFC’s global infrastructure experience and commitment to achieving high standards and social benefits.”
IFC’s Advisory Services director Bernard Sheahan added, “By bringing in private sector participation, we will help put in place a solution to a very challenging situation. This will ensure substantial improvements in the quality and delivery of power in the country, benefiting the growing industrial sector and the Malagasy population at large.”
IFC’s Advisory Services provides advisory assistance, primarily to governments, on private sector participation in the provision of infrastructure services and the restructuring of state-owned enterprises. The services help establish public-private partnerships through which governments can bridge the need for increased services under budget constraints with the benefits of private sector expertise in management and finance. For more information, visit
http://www.ifc.org/advisory
.
The mission of IFC (
www.ifc.org
) is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international financial markets, helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses. From its founding in 1956 through FYO4, IFC has committed more than $44 billion of its own funds and arranged $23 billion in syndications for 3,143 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC’s worldwide committed portfolio as of FY04 was $17.9 billion for its own account and $5.5 billion held for participants in loan syndications.
