Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan has been named the 2022 winner of the Africa Road Builders–Babacar Ndiaye Trophy.

Sponsored by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Africa Road Builders Babacar Ndiaye Trophy is organized by Acturoutes, an information platform on infrastructure and roads in Africa, and the organization Media for Infrastructure and Finance in Africa (MIFA), a network of African journalists specializing in road infrastructure.

Announcing the winner through a statement AfDB said that the prize is awarded to leading figures in Africa, demonstrating an intense commitment to the development of the transport infrastructure on the continent.

The selection committee for the award commended President Samia for her “personal leadership, huge investments, and commitment” to extending roads and the railway network in Tanzania.

“We send our warm congratulations to President Samia and the people of Tanzania,” the committee intoned.

The committee noted the $290m loans provided by the AfDB to support the revitalization of road, rail, and air transport in Tanzania, along with the $172.2m contracts signed with the China Corporation Limited to supply 1,430 freight wagons for the Tanzania Railways Corporation standard gauge railway program.

The construction of an outer ring road in the city of Dodoma was cited for praise by AfDB, a project launched by the president on 11th February in the presence of AfDB Group President, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina.

The statement reminded bank stakeholders that the Tanzanian leader is at present the only female Head of State in Africa, coming into office last March, following the death of President John Magufuli, under whom she served as vice-president.

Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari received the award last year, while the 2022 trophy will be awarded at the final conference of Africa Road Builders, scheduled to take place alongside the next annual meetings of stakeholders of the continental lender in the Ghanaian capital of Accra next month, it added.

The trophy was instituted in honor of Babacar Ndiaye, President of the African Development Bank Group from 1985 to 1995.