Two presidents win 2024 Africa Road Builders prize

The President of Equatorial Guinea, Téodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, and President Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the Republic of Congo have been selected as winners of the “Africa Road Builders” prize for 2024.

Sponsored by the African Development Bank Group, the Africa Road Builders prize is awarded by Acturoutes, a platform that provides information on the road network and infrastructure in Africa, and Media for Infrastructure and Finance in Africa (MIFA), a network of African journalists specialising in road infrastructure, in honour of Babacar Ndiaye, who was President of the African Development Bank Group from 1985 to 1995.

Each year, the selection committee evaluates ambitious, tangible projects that have a real impact on people’s mobility in Africa.

The 2024 edition of the Africa Road Builders selection committee met in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates recently where it awarded the Babacar Ndiaye Prize 2024 to the two African Presidents that followed in the footsteps of the Head of state of Madagascar, Andry Rajoelina, who won the prize in 2023.

President Obiang Nguema was awarded the prize for his remarkable achievements in improving the road infrastructure in his country, while President, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, was selected in recognition of his commitment to the development of road infrastructure.

In Equatorial Guinea, the committee cited the completion of the Malabo-Sipopo and Bata-Mongomo motorways, as well as the resurfacing of roads in several other regions of the country. In Congo, the committee picked the road between Brazzaville and Pointe-Noire.

The Selection Committee in a statement congratulates both African Presidents for their remarkable achievements in road infrastructure and invites them to accept their awards on May 30, 2024 in Nairobi, Kenya, at the final conference, which will take place alongside the African Development Bank Annual Meeting scheduled for May 27 to 31, 2024.

The Babacar Ndiaye Prize has been awarded to the following heads of state since its launch in 2016: King Mohamed VI (Morocco), Edgar Lungu (Zambia), Alassane Ouattara (Côte d’Ivoire), Ali Bongo Ondimba (Gabon) in 2016, Macky Sall (Senegal) and Paul Kagamé (Rwanda) in 2017, Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya) in 2018, Adama Barrow (Gambia) in 2019, Abdel Fattah-al Sissi (Egypt) in 2020, Muhammadu Buhari (Nigeria) in 2021, Samia Suhulu (Tanzania) in 2022 and Andry Rajoelina (Madagascar) in 2023.