India's Overseas Infrastructure executes $1 bn of works in Africa

In just over a decade since it began operations in Africa, India's Overseas Infrastructure Alliance Ltd. (OIA) says the company has executed projects worth $1 billion in eight African countries.

In an email interview with IANS, OIA's head of corporate communications Chinmay Shah listed the countries as Burkina Faso, Comoros, Ethiopia, the Maldives, Mozambique, Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania.

"OIA has expanded the capacity of its ethanol plant in Ethiopia from 45,000 litres production per day to 110,000 litres. Total cane crushed last year stood at 759,333 tonnes, while total sugar produced stood at 796,444 tonnes," Shah said.

The company is currently constructing another sugar plant at Tendaho in Ethiopia that will be Africa's largest integrated sugar factory.

The company has also built a two-storey ophthalmology centre at a cost of $2.13 million in Ethiopia as part of its corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Ethiopia has one of the highest blindness prevalence rates in the world, with a total of 1.2 million blind people.

"Tens of thousands continue to lose their sight due to lack of access to basic eye-care. Trachoma is a huge challenge in Ethiopia with an estimated infection rate of two out of five children," an OIA report has said.

The OIA-India Eye Care Centre in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa has been operating successfully as a non-profit hospital since its inauguration in March 2014.

"In its long-term commitment to Ethiopia, OIA is determined to play a meaningful role in meeting the challenges of avoidable blindness. We at OIA seek to roll out the model of rural comprehensive eye care in more regions in Ethiopia to ensure no one goes blind from causes that are preventable, treatable and avoidable," the company said.

OIA first entered Africa to undertake an electrification project at Mozambique's Gaza province for Electricidade de Mozambique.

By Francis Kokutse

(the author can be reached at [email protected])