PROJECT

Projects

Summary of Proposed Investment

Project Number

9114

Company Name

Drop Ivoire

Date SPI Disclosed

May 21, 1998

Country

Cote D'Ivoire

Industry

Agribusiness and Forestry

Status

Completed

Sector

Soft Drink

Department

Regional Industry - MAS Africa

Environmental Category

B - Limited

Previous Events

Approved : Jun 30, 1998
Signed : Jan 21, 1999
Invested : Apr 13, 1999

Project Description

Summary Of Project Information (SPI)

Project NameCote d''Ivoire-Drop Ivoire mineral water project.
RegionSub Saharan Africa
Sector
Project No009114
Projected Board DateJune 21, 1998
Company NameDrop Ivoire     
Technical Partner and/or Major Shareholders

The main sponsor of Drop-Ivoire is PCCL a company registered in Liberia on August 1992 with the objective to invest in various projects in Africa. The shareholders of PCCL are Mr. George Weah a Liberian famous football player in Milan AC team, Dr. Y. Gray, a former Minister in Liberia, Dr. E. Trombetta and Dr. Fabio Garofoli, two Italians businessmen who were involved in Liberia before the civil war. PCCL will own 65% of the company. The technical partner is Cola Impianti, an Italian company based in Roma with 15% of Drop Ivoire. Cola Impianti srl was established in 1982 and specializes in the sector of air conditioning and thermo-hydraulic. It designs, installs and maintains hydraulic, thermal and refrigeration plants. It will supply the necessary equipment and machinery for Drop Ivoire. The remaining shareholders are Mr. Ibrahim Ba, another famous African football player in Milan AC and Mr. Etienne Atcho the Ivoirian partner with 5% of the capital. He is well introduced in the business community in Cote d''Ivoire.

The first project brought to conclusion by PCCL is Drop of Zanzibar Ltd, a mineral water bottling company in Zanzibar with a $ 0.4 million financing from IFC.

Project Cost Including proposed IFC investment

Total project cost is estimated at US$ 3.169 millions. IFC would provide a loan for 1.25 million. IFC''s investment represents 39% of total cost of the project.

Location of project and Description of site

The factory will be located approximately 60 kms east of Abidjan and 2 kms east of the town of Bonoua. The site is adjacent to the main Abidjan-Ghana highway on a 4 ha plot which is a natural scrubland in undulating countryside. The site requires minimum civil work being relatively level and with good access to the highway. High tension electrical supply is close by.

Description of Company and Purpose of Project

The company has a 30 year renewable lease on the site and the project consists of a permanent well with pump, filtering system, the plant (bottling and bottle blowing, capping and labelling machines), laboratory and technical office, warehouse and store. Office equipment and used trucks will complete the investment. The capacity of the production equipment is 2,000 bottles/hour. However the design of the plant including storage space, filling capping, labelling machines and laboratory equipment has been set to accommodate the production of 4,000/bottles/hour. This production capacity could be reached by adding another blowing machine. The plant will produce still and carbonated mineral water in 3 different size bottles.
IFC''s role:
The IFC involvement will help the sponsor complete his financing plan and attract other financial institution who might not be interested otherwise. The IFC exposure will reach 39% of total project cost. By supporting this project, IFC will contribute to open the Ivorian local competition to the consumer advantage. At present, there is only one mineral water producer in Cote d''Ivoire. The balance between local production and demand is imported mainly from Europe.

Development impact:
This project will support the Government strategy of enhancing local processing resources and export in the region. By locating this plant in the interior, the sponsors will contribute to the development of a productive rural area of the country. The project will expand availability to local consumers of locally produced mineral water, whose quality will be in compliance with European standards. The company will create 60 jobs and distribute close to US$200,000 of wages/year.

Environmental Category and Issues

This is a category B project according to AEF''s environmental review procedure. Environmental issues associated with this project include site and land use, liquid and solid waste management, storage of chemicals and hazardous materials, and sustainability and quality of the aquifer. Occupational health, and safety issues include occupational health and safety, fire safety and noise emissions.

The sponsor has presented plans to address these issues: The plant is located in the future industrial zone of Bonoua and comprises office space and the processing unit, on a total surface area of 4 hectares. The plant will be powered by the main city electric lines. The process creates very little liquid effluent. Sanitary wastewaters and runoff waters will be collected and discharged into a sceptic tank. Minimum amount of process rising water will be treated. No hazardous waste will be generated. Solid waste will be regularly collected by the municipality and disposed off in the authorised municipal dump. The plant building will meet relevant EEC standards for air workplace quality and fire fighting.

The tapped aquifer is located between 140 and 200m at depth and has proven reserves for over 500 years at planned exploitation levels. Tapping of this aquifer will not affect local and regional water supplies. Great attention will be given during tubing and screening of the borehole, in order to avoid any connection between the Akwaba aquifer and the 3 above aquifers. Regular hygiene and quality controls will be put in place in order to guarantee the purity and quality of the bottled water.

Based on its review of available information regarding potential environmental impacts and proposed mitigation measures, IFC concludes that the proposed project is being designed to meet Government of Ivoiry Coast requirements, and World Bank policies, and environmental, health and safety guidelines.

IFC will monitor Drop Ivoire''s ongoing compliance with World Bank policies and guidelines during the life of the project by evaluating monitoring reports submitted annually to IFC by the sponsor and by conducting periodic site reviews during project supervision.

The is from the Public Information Center.
Date SPI sent to PIC May 21, 1998

“This Summary of Project Information is prepared and distributed to the public in advance of consideration of the proposed transaction by the Corporation’s Board of Directors. It is provided for the purpose of enhancing the transparency of IFC’s activities and should not be construed as presuming the outcome of IFC Board consideration.”

For Additional Information contact: Corporate Relations Unit -
telephone: (202) 473-7711
facsimile: (202) 974-4384
Environmental documents for this project are available at http://www.ifc.org and from the World Bank InfoShop (http://www.worldbank.org/html/pic/aboutinfo.html).

Sponsor / Cost / Location