The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group have approved a €12mn senior loan with a 15-year tenor, including a five-year grace period, to finance the Dakar-Diamniado toll highway in Senegal.
p>The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group have approved a €12mn senior loan with a 15-year tenor, including a five-year grace period, to finance the Dakar-Diamniado toll highway in Senegal.
The project comprises the construction of the 20.4-km section of the Dakar-Diamniado toll highway from Pikine to Diamniadio and the tolling and operation of the toll highway from Patte d’Oie to Diamniado (including the 4.2km section between Patte d’Oie and Pikine, which was constructed under a separate contract). The motorway will be built as a dual carriageway with three lanes in each direction from Patte d’Oie to Thiaroye and two lanes in each direction from there to Diamniadio with six intermediate junctions.
The project’s main beneficiaries are road users who will save significant amounts of time and vehicle operating expenditures. It will also help stimulate local economic activity and facilitate the movement of goods and services through this regional hub, thereby strengthening intra and inter-regional trade.
The toll road forms part of Senegal’s infrastructure development program, which includes the extension of the Dakar port, the new airport as well as a number of other transport projects. These new infrastructure will stimulate economic activity in the manufacturing, industrial and tourism sector as well as more generally support trade and mobility. The country will benefit from these projects in terms of increased competitiveness through reduced cost of doing business.
The Bank is already playing an important role in infrastructure development in Senegal as evidenced by its effectiveness in providing long-term financing for private sector participation in projects such as the Kounoune Power project (2007), the Sendou Power (2009) and Dakar Port project (2009). The project is one of the first public-private partnership (PPP) projects in the road sub-sector. It is therefore aligned with the objectives of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) which promotes private sector participation in financing infrastructure projects.
As one of the first PPP transport operations, the Dakar–Diamniadio Project will serve as an example of continuous collaboration and partnership between the Bank and the operator and for further replication on the continent.
