The new laureate of the Babacar Ndiaye Trophy will receive his award on May 28 in Abidjan, on the sidelines of the 2025 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank Group.
The Angolan Head of State, João Lourenço, has been named the winner of the 2025 edition of the Africa Road Builders award, which honors African leaders committed to the development of infrastructure. He succeeds the 2024 co-recipients, Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and Congo’s Denis Sassou-Nguesso.
On April 25, in Dubai, the selection committee for the prestigious Grand Bâtisseur Babacar Ndiaye prize chose President Lourenço in recognition of his achievements in major transport infrastructure projects in Angola. Among these is the Lobito Corridor, a strategic regional railway line connecting Zambia, Angola, and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The African Development Fund, the concessional lending window of the African Development Bank Group, contributed a grant of $8.14 million to this integrative project that facilitates trade among the three countries.
Additional key projects that influenced the committee’s decision include the construction of the new Dr. Agostinho Neto International Airport, inaugurated in November 2023, the paving of 2,000 kilometers of roads, the rehabilitation of over 2,000 additional kilometers, and the planned light metro project in Luanda.
The committee explained, “We have noted that Angola has undertaken in recent years a major transformation of its transport infrastructure aimed at strengthening its strategic position in Southern and Central Africa and diversifying its economy. These projects and achievements have immediate impacts, such as the creation of numerous services, notably through the use of new information and communication technologies.”
The new Babacar Ndiaye awardee will receive his trophy on May 28 in Abidjan, on the sidelines of the 2025 Annual Meetings of the African Development Bank Group.
Sponsored by the African Development Bank Group, the Babacar Ndiaye Trophy for Africa Road Builders is awarded by Acturoutes, an information platform on infrastructure and road networks in Africa, and Media for Infrastructure and Finance in Africa (MIFA), a network of African journalists specializing in road infrastructure.
The prize was established in honor of Babacar Ndiaye (1936-2017), president of the African Development Bank Group from 1985 to 1995. Each year, the Africa Road Builders selection committee evaluates ambitious and concrete projects that have a real impact on the mobility of populations in Africa.
Since its launch in 2016, the Babacar Ndiaye Trophy has honored the following heads of state: King Mohammed VI (Morocco), Edgar Lungu (Zambia), Alassane Ouattara (Ivory Coast), Ali Bongo Ondimba (Gabon), Macky Sall (Senegal) and Paul Kagame (Rwanda) – co-recipients in 2017 – Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya), Adama Barrow (Gambia), Abdel Fattah Al-Sissi (Egypt), Muhammadu Buhari (Nigeria), Samia Suluhu Hassan (Tanzania), Andry Rajoelina (Madagascar), Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (Equatorial Guinea) and Denis Sassou-Nguesso (Congo) – co-recipients in 2024.
