The Development of Railway Concessions in West and Central Africa

Abstract

This article provides an overview of the railway restructuring and concessions in the binational Abidjan/Ouagadougou Railway (1992–1995), the Cameroon Railway (1996–2000), and the Gabon rail concession (1998–2000). While the concessions were developed independently, their comparison suggests that–at least in some dimensions–each transaction was able to identify issues, problems, and successes in the previous deals and to design processes and institutions to develop better concessions. Moreover, this comparative approach serves to identify common issues and provides ideas as to how transactions might be further improved. The three concession experiences highlight: the changing sources and nature of financing; improvements in the design of bidding and award processes for concessions; contract design and renegotiation issues; roles of governments, multilateral institutions, and private parties; and the ability of project parties to learn lessons from prior deals and adapt processes to the specific country context.