MULTI-PRODUITS S.A. (multi-company project with Sodiro #7773) Summary Of Project Information (SPI)       Project Name    Cote dIvoire-Multiproduits - SODIRO              Region    Sub-Saharan Africa        Sector       Project No007584   Projected Board DateJune 25, 1996   Company NameSODIRO S.A.   Technical Partner and/or Major Shareholders    	Mr. Gaoussou Touré, an Ivorian businessman, and his family.    Project Cost Including proposed IFC investment    	The estimated project cost:  US$8.3 million.  IFC Guarantee: a local currency guarantee of up to US$3.0 million equivalent approximately.    Location of project and Description of site    	The Companys operations are located in Odienné, the largest city of Northwestern Côte dIvoire.    Description of Company and Purpose of Project    	SODIRO is the processing subsidiary of the Odienné-based  Multiproduits/SODIRO Group which is involved in food processing and distribution.  The devaluation of the CFA Franc has made locally grown rice more competitive and the Company hopes to capitalize of this new opportunity by modernizing and upgrading its rice milling factory to its nominal 20,000 tons per annum.  In addition, other project investments are expected to improve the efficiency of the Groups distribution network and extend agricultural support services to about 700 existing rice farmers.  The project will benefit the Ivorian economy by saving around US$3.5 million annually in hard currency rice imports, and stimulating employment and revenue generation for farmers in one of the countrys poorest regions.  This contribution is particularly significant because Odienné suffers from heavy unemployment and depopulation.  The SODIRO plant is Odiennés first and so far only industrial installation, and the project will assist in expanding and consolidating its operations.     Environmental Category and Issues    	This is a category B project according to IFCs environmental review procedure. Environmental and occupational and health issue associated with this project include air emissions, solid waste recycling, safety standard, induced development, and employee training standard.  The only air emissions are dust from the rice handling and milling operations, and air filtering systems will be incorporated into the design.  The waste husks from the milling process and the dust from the air filtering systems are returned to the farmers for composting and recycling as organic soil improver.  The rice mill will be designed according to European Community standards for occupational health and safety, and dust explosion prevention.  The induced development in the surrounding area will be limited to an increase in the work force needed.  Sodiros technical staff has a high level of competence and the present training level will be extended to cover the new milling facility. IFC will ensure on-going compliance with World Bank guidelines during the life of the project by evaluating monitoring reports submitted annually to IFC by Sodiro and by conducting periodic supervision.    The  is  from the Public Information Center.       Date SPI sent to PIC     May 15, 1996      For Additional Information contact:  Corporate Relations Unit -   telephone: (202) 473-7711   facsimile: (202) 676-0365  Environmental documents for this project are available at http://www.ifc.org and from the World Bank InfoShop (http://www.worldbank.org/html/pic/aboutinfo.html).