Bollore eyes $150 mln Guinea dry port investment
CONAKRY | Thu Feb 10, 2011 5:10am
CONAKRY, Feb 10 (Reuters) – French group Bollore (BOLL.PA) is looking to invest $150 million in a dry port in Guinea to ease shipment of goods through the country, the billionaire head of the conglomerate said.
The west African nation, the world’s top exporter of aluminium ore bauxite, has just completed a transition to civilian rule that should restore foreign aid and investment after two turbulent years under military control. “We anticipate an investment programme of $150 million to develop a dry port 15 km from Conakry to facilitate transport towards neighbouring countries,” Vincent Bollore said on Guinea state television late on Wednesday.
The port in Conakry handles nearly all goods shipped into Guinea, and to some land-locked neighbours like Mali. A project to extend the port has been caught up in a row between GETMA, which was awarded the contract, and rival Maersk.
The Bollore group has worked in Africa for decades and is involved in the management of a number of ports long the west and central African coast.
(Reporting by Saliou Samb; writing by David Lewis; editing by David Hulmes)