Released February 06, 2012 | JOHANNESBURG
en
Written by Richard Finlayson, Senior International Editor for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The United States is sending a trade mission to Mozambique, Tanzania, Nigeria and Ghana, with a brief stop in Kenya, to look at potential investment projects with the aim of enhancing the countries' ability to generate electric power, a senior State Department official announced.
"The basic objective of the trade mission is to make significant progress on increasing U.S. private-sector investment in power infrastructure projects that have the potential to increase overall development in these countries by significantly reducing the cost of doing business," Jim Wilson, senior coordinator for trade promotion and commercial policy in the department's Bureau of African Affairs, said.
The mission specifically hopes to determine if U.S. power developers will be able to invest in generating facilities and fuel that help address the needs in Africa for reliable, affordable electricity supply. The mission will be in Africa February 6 to 17 and is being led by Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson. The Corporate Council on Africa is sponsoring the mission.
Wilson said that a trade mission of this type was important because of the huge constraints that the lack of reliable electricity place on African development. "It's almost like a tax that is paid where companies in Nigeria or Mozambique either can't get reliable power or have to pay a very high price with backup generators and expensive diesel fuel to be able to have security of supply," he said. "If African businesses could have access to power as companies in the United States and Britain do, they could produce products that would be more affordable for local markets and export abroad," he added.
The challenges faced by a company making major investments in a project with a 20-year life cycle, political sensitivity to prices for basic public services like electricity and uncertain legal and regulatory regimes, inconsistent support of production costs reflected in mandatory electricity prices and insufficient availability of long-term financing from U.S. banks were mentioned by Wilson. But each country selected for the trade mission presents significant opportunities for investment in electric power. The governments had all been taking measures to make regulatory and legal environments in their nations to make the sector more attractive to private investors, Wilson said.
"The trade mission aims to bring companies to take a look again at the changing environment in Africa, see the improvements, see what's now possible to do that might not have been possible to do two years ago or five years ago," said Wilson.
In the U.S. delegation are representatives of Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:APC) (The Woodlands, Texas), Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) (Peoria, Illinois), Chevron (NYSE:CVX) (San Ramon, California), Energy International (Canton, Michigan/Dubai,UAE), General Electric (NYSE:GE) (Fairfield, Connecticut), Pike Enterprises (Mount Airy, North Carolina), Strategic Urban Development Alliance LLC (Oaklands, California), Symbion (Nashville, Tennessee) and Zanbato Group (Mountain View, California).
There will also be representatives from the U.S. Exim Bank, U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and the State Department's Bureau of Energy Resources.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.
"The basic objective of the trade mission is to make significant progress on increasing U.S. private-sector investment in power infrastructure projects that have the potential to increase overall development in these countries by significantly reducing the cost of doing business," Jim Wilson, senior coordinator for trade promotion and commercial policy in the department's Bureau of African Affairs, said.
The mission specifically hopes to determine if U.S. power developers will be able to invest in generating facilities and fuel that help address the needs in Africa for reliable, affordable electricity supply. The mission will be in Africa February 6 to 17 and is being led by Assistant Secretary of State Johnnie Carson. The Corporate Council on Africa is sponsoring the mission.
Wilson said that a trade mission of this type was important because of the huge constraints that the lack of reliable electricity place on African development. "It's almost like a tax that is paid where companies in Nigeria or Mozambique either can't get reliable power or have to pay a very high price with backup generators and expensive diesel fuel to be able to have security of supply," he said. "If African businesses could have access to power as companies in the United States and Britain do, they could produce products that would be more affordable for local markets and export abroad," he added.
The challenges faced by a company making major investments in a project with a 20-year life cycle, political sensitivity to prices for basic public services like electricity and uncertain legal and regulatory regimes, inconsistent support of production costs reflected in mandatory electricity prices and insufficient availability of long-term financing from U.S. banks were mentioned by Wilson. But each country selected for the trade mission presents significant opportunities for investment in electric power. The governments had all been taking measures to make regulatory and legal environments in their nations to make the sector more attractive to private investors, Wilson said.
"The trade mission aims to bring companies to take a look again at the changing environment in Africa, see the improvements, see what's now possible to do that might not have been possible to do two years ago or five years ago," said Wilson.
In the U.S. delegation are representatives of Anadarko Petroleum (NYSE:APC) (The Woodlands, Texas), Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) (Peoria, Illinois), Chevron (NYSE:CVX) (San Ramon, California), Energy International (Canton, Michigan/Dubai,UAE), General Electric (NYSE:GE) (Fairfield, Connecticut), Pike Enterprises (Mount Airy, North Carolina), Strategic Urban Development Alliance LLC (Oaklands, California), Symbion (Nashville, Tennessee) and Zanbato Group (Mountain View, California).
There will also be representatives from the U.S. Exim Bank, U.S. Trade and Development Agency, and the State Department's Bureau of Energy Resources.
Industrial Info Resources (IIR), with global headquarters in Sugar Land, Texas, and eight offices outside of North America, is the leading provider of global market intelligence specializing in the industrial process, heavy manufacturing and energy markets. Industrial Info's quality-assurance philosophy, the Living Forward Reporting Principle, provides up-to-the-minute intelligence on what's happening now, while constantly keeping track of future opportunities.
