On Monday 27 March 2023, a "review meeting" was held on the 4th floor of Tower B between the Ministry of Culture and Francophonie and the company Ivoire Hydro Energy (IHE), the project manager of the Singrobo-Ahouaty Hydroelectric Development Project (PAHSA). Indeed, the agreement signed on 05 August 2019 between the two parties, has allowed a public-private partnership winning promoting excavations and study of remains by the Archaeological Department of the Ministry.
Based on her presentation of the archaeological sites and discoveries made in the project area, the Technical Advisor in charge of Heritage and Archaeology, Professor KIENON Kaboré Hélène noted the valuable assistance of IHE which, among other things, has enabled archaeological research to be carried out in the PAHSA department. She underlined that all these discovered sites, 17 in number, represent a wealth for the Ivory Coast.
Mr Ekolan Alain ETTY, President of IHE confirmed the forthcoming construction of a museum as stipulated in the convention. Then the General Manager of IHE, Mr Christophe BLAIRON, shared all the joy of the company to be able to contribute to the archaeological and cultural development of the Ivory Coast by facilitating archaeological research and by financing two doctoral scholarships.
In conclusion, Minister Françoise REMARCK thanked the IHE for having taken the full measure of the importance of archaeology and for having accepted to invest in this little-known and media-savvy field when nothing obliged it to do so.
Below is a press clipping related to this meeting: