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Eric Melet (Bolloré): “Africa has an opportunity with rail”

Éric Melet, CEO of Bolloré Raiways.

© Bollore

Text by: Bruno Faure Follow

6 mins

Developing rail transport in Africa is more than ever a priority for Bolloré Africa Logistics, which is in the process of selling its activities to the Italian-Swiss group MSC.

Eric Melet, CEO of Bolloré Raiways, gave an interview to RFI during the Africa CEO Forum in Abidjan.

It details its strategy and responds to the criticisms aimed at the French group.

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RFI: Recently, the Bolloré group recommitted to investing more in rail in Africa.

Why this choice ?

Eric Melet:

Indeed, we were the very first to believe that the development of the railway on the African continent was essential.

There is no better, inclusive and sustainable mode of transport.

The 2,500 km of track that we operate represent 4,000 railway workers, but also around 400 subcontractors.

This is one of the next challenges for the development of flows on the continent.

Rail transport is always the most competitive when it comes to transporting large tonnages, for example in industrial cement works.

Perhaps Africa has the opportunity to develop its railways and freight better than Europe has.

I think that Africa has an opportunity, if we show a lot of inventiveness collectively between public authorities,

Are you going to hire staff

We hire very regularly in the networks since in reality there is also a generational change, human resources are the main element.

Once you lose the know-how, it's very difficult.

So we hire several hundred people every year.

We have a training school certified by a state diploma in Burkina Faso.

We have several training centers, so yes, we are constantly hiring.

Among the challenges, there is the improvement of infrastructures, their modernization or even the limitation of waiting times, a real problem when moving from one country to another.

Absolutely.

The railway is a laboratory of regional integration with all the issues of crossing borders and fluidity.

Part of the necessary investment depends on dematerialization, to limit load breaks and waiting times.

For example: on our networks, waiting times at departure and arrival are one to two times longer than the point-to-point rail transport time.

Which is a colossal loss of productivity and efficiency.

Is the security context in certain West African countries a problem for Bolloré

This is obviously a concern, particularly when it comes to passenger transport.

You are no doubt aware that since the pandemic, passenger transport has been interrupted at the request of the authorities, on the Sitarail network between Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso.

Conversely, we have a fairly significant passenger activity on the Cameroonian network.

This is one of the subjects that must be taken into account and on which, like many others, the railway activity needs strong support from the authorities.

The railway loop supposed to interconnect the WAEMU States over more than

The rail loop, as its name suggests, is made up of two sides.

Its Ivorian and Burkinabè side, which transports just over 100 million tonnes each year, continues to progress.

The other side to which you refer (Benin-Niger) illustrates the difficulties of this kind of project.

You have to be pragmatic, these are very complex, very ambitious projects.

They bring into play legal difficulties, of jus soli.

The project is stopped for the moment for reasons totally beyond the control of Bolloré Railways.

If the Continental Free Trade Area (ZLECAf) sees the light of day, what will be the role of rail in this whole region

Studies on the free trade zone show that to be able to transport the additional flows, there will be a minimum of 2 million additional trucks on the roads.

By way of comparison, the networks we operate represent approximately 100,000 trucks, which is a very positive carbon footprint in relation to this transport.

To develop, the ZLECAf will need to push all modes of transport, road, but also rail.

The great difficulty for rail is to achieve economic balance and ensure that the expenditure necessary for the development or rehabilitation of the tracks can be mobilised.

For this, donors and States must share this vision and be able to partner with the private sector.

You (Bolloré) are under criticism.

Recently, a demonstration was organized in early March in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) to demand better management of the railway by the Bolloré group.

How do you respond to these criticisms?

I answer that it is legitimate for the populations to want to be able to do better and better with the infrastructures of the countries.

But in these kinds of protests, there are a lot of false things being said.

Say, for example, that the infrastructure belongs to Bolloré.

No, in public-private partnerships of this type, the infrastructures are the full property of the States.

The States have trusted us to try to develop them and make the best use of them.

And I answer that Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso are among the few countries that have managed to maintain and develop a tool, despite very difficult years.

Employment has not suffered, investments in rolling stock have been made.

We crossed the million tonne mark despite a pandemic and sometimes complicated situations.

Now, it is certain, and it is our objective, that we must take a new course and that we must bring these rail networks to a new level of performance.

So, contrary to the critics, you assure us that Bolloré is not making profits at the expense of the Burkinabè state...

To put it very clearly, I will betray no secret by telling you that since the creation of Sitarail, Bolloré has not received a euro in dividends.

It has invested in this network above all to carry the flow of goods in the sub-region.

He invested in it out of the conviction that this mode of development must prevail and that it is also necessary for the flow of goods.

Bolloré's rail branch targets criticism in Africa

On March 26, 2022, a demonstration was organized in Ouagadougou to denounce the management of the railway between Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso by the Bolloré group (Abidjan-Kaya-Tambao).

The Burkina 2050 consortium requests the cancellation of the framework contract signed by the French group and the two countries concerned.

The demonstrators criticize the shortcomings of the framework agreement for the rehabilitation, construction and operation of the railway.

The consortium accuses Bolloré of several shortcomings: for more than 20 years, Burkina Faso received nothing from the operation of the Abidjan-Kaya railway.

They want the government to take over the management of rail transport. 

Bolloré Railways has also had to abandon a project for a “railway loop”, a railway line over more than 3,000 kilometers linking Cotonou to Abidjan, and passing through Niamey and Ouagadougou.

A project, estimated at 3 billion euros, blocked in particular by legal actions.

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