Senegal gets US$69.85m AfDB loan for Dakar highwayNEWS - AFRICA...

Senegal gets US$69.85m AfDB loan for Dakar highway
NEWS - AFRICA NEWS

The African DevelopmentBank (AfDB) is lending Senegal F CFA 32.4 billion (US$69.85 million) to finance the construction of its Dakar-Diamniadio 31.60-km highway, PANA learnt Friday in Tunis.

The loan represents 13.41 per cent of the entire cost of the project, co-financed by the French Development Agency (AFD), the International Development Association (IDA) and the Senegalese government.

It was approved Wednesday in the Tunisian capital by the board of directors of the African Development Fund (ADF), the AfDB concessionary window.

Seen as a gateway to a new economic development hub, the Dakar-Diamniadio project which is to include toll stations is expected to also improve the living environment of people staying near the road.

It is also expected to enhance the overall transportation system, accelerate growth and promote regional integration.

One of the first Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects in the road sub-sector, it is designed to meet the objectives of the New Partnership for the Development of Africa (NEPAD), which include promoting private sector’s participation in the financing of infrastructures.

According to a statement released here Friday, the project is consistent with the AfDB Group’s 2005-2009 strategy for Senegal, which focuses on improving the business environment, with a view to accelerating growth and access to basic infrastructures.

It will help improve the movement of goods and people in the Dakar region as well as in neighbouring towns and countries.

The project is the first section of the Dakar-Bamako highway (Senegal-Mali), as well as Dakar-Labe-Conakry (Senegal-Guinea), co-funded by the AFD as part of efforts to integrate and link up neighbouring countries.

From 2000 to 2004, AfDB funded the rehabilitation of the Diamniadio-Mbour-Fatick-Kaolack road jointly with the European Union (EU), and is currently financing the Kédougou-Saraya, Saraya-Mali border and the Tambacounda-Medina-Gounass sections, in collaboration with other development partners, while the EU is financing the Birkilane-Tambacounda section.

Although the project covers the Dakar region, its impact goes beyond Senegal to the entire Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which is expected to be interlinked through the Dakar-Lagos Trans-African Highway.

It will be particularly felt in Mali, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and the Gambia, with some 300,000 inhabitants of Pikine, a Dakar high density suburb, as well as 3,000 families in the nearby Tivaouane Peul among the main beneficiaries.

Exporters and other economic operators involved in regional transportation will also benefit from the road construction.

Tunis - 17/07/2009

http://www.afriquejet.com/news/africa-news/senegal-gets-us$69.85m-afdb-loan-for-dakar-highway-2009071731876.html

JB