Fouta Cement is 100 percent owned by Fouta Corporation (“Fouta”). Fouta is engaged in the importation and distribution of rice, cement, steel rods and building materials, and is owned by 5 Liberian nationals. The Sponsors of the Project are (i) Mr. Hamidou Gnan who is the Founder and Managing Director of Fouta; and (ii) Mr. Mohammed Sow who is the President and Executive Director of Fouta.   

The proposal is for IFC to provide a financing package of up to US$21.6mn comprising of: (i) IFC A Loan of up to US$5.4mn; (ii) IDA PSW subordinated loan of up to US$10.8mn; and (iii) B/Parallel loan of up to US$5.4mn. IFC’s own account financing represents about 48% of the total investment cost.                                                   

Freeport of Monrovia.                                        

 This is a Category B project according to IFC’s Environmental and Social Sustainability Policy. Based on information reviewed by IFC, the investment will have limited adverse environmental and social risks and impacts that are few in number and site-specific with construction impacts mainly being short term and not significant. Operational impacts are expected to be generally site specific and can be avoided or mitigated by adhering to recognized performance standards, procedures, guidelines and design criteria as described in the following sections and include, amongst other, national laws and regulations, the World Bank Group (WBG) General Environment, Health and Safety (EHS) General Guidelines and the sector specific EHS Guidelines for Cement and Lime Manufacturing.

The key E&S issues associated with the Project include; (a) adequate E&S assessment of the operational phase impacts; (b) adequacy of Fouta Cement’s E&S management systems (ESMS)  manage Project related E&S risks and impacts; (c) assurance of fair, safe and healthy working conditions for employees and contract workers in line with IFC PS2 and legal requirements (including gender based violence) during operation; (d) management of air emissions, noise, waste and wastewater in line with the WBG EHS Guidelines; (e) community safety and health management, especially related to transportation; and (f) stakeholder engagement.