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| Senegal gets US$69.85m AfDB loan for Dakar highway
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By Fred Cawanda,
PANA correspondent
Tunis, Tunisia (PANA) -
The African Development Bank (AfDB) is lending Senegal F
CFA 32.4 billion (US$69.85 million) to finance the construction of its Dakar-Dia
m
niadio 31.60-km highway, PANA learnt Friday in Tunis.
The loan represents 13.41 per cent of the entire cost of the project, co-finance
d by the French Development Agency (AFD), the International Development Associat
i
on (IDA) and the Senegalese government.
It was approved Wednesday in the Tunisian capital by the board of directors of t
he African Development Fund (ADF), the AfDB concessionary window.
Seen as a gateway to a new economic development hub, the Dakar-Diamniadio projec
t which is to include toll stations is expected to also improve the living envir
o
nment of people staying near the road.
It is also expected to enhance the overall transportation system, accelerate gro
wth and promote regional integration.
One of the first Public Private Partnership (PPP) projects in the road sub-secto
r, it is designed to meet the objectives of the New Partnership for the Developm
e
nt of Africa (NEPAD), which include promoting private sector’s participation in
t
he financing of infrastructures.
According to a statement released here Friday, the project is consistent with th
e AfDB Group’s 2005-2009 strategy for Senegal, which focuses on improving the bu
s
iness environment, with a view to accelerating growth and access to basic infras
t
ructures.
It will help improve the movement of goods and people in the Dakar region as wel
l 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 eff
o
rts 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 t
h
e Kédougou-Saraya, Saraya-Mali border and the Tambacounda-Medina-Gounass section
s
, in collaboration with other development partners, while the EU is financing th
e
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 3,0
0
0 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.
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| Tunis - 17/07/2009 |
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