Dakar makes headway on road project to open up Casamance

摘要

After nearly a year and a half of being on the back burner, the process of selecting a provider to rehabilitate the stretch of National Road 4 running between Senoba, Ziguinchor, and Mpack could shift up a gear in the coming weeks. The project is considered crucial for improving access to Casamance, a region sandwiched between Gambia and Guinea-Bissau that Dakar wants to open up to counter secessionist tendencies in the area. There have been signs that things are starting to move forward. The Senegalese authorities have begun their search for a consultancy to oversee the construction of road sections to connect several isolated rural communities to the Senoba-Ziguinchor-Mpack segment. The project, partly funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB), includes the construction of a loop to bypass the Kalounayes forest (AI, 16/10/20). This could also be started in the coming weeks. This section was delayed in October 2020 when Senegalese bidder Ecotra was ousted by the public procurement regulatory authority ARMP (Autorité de Régulation des Marchés Publics), a decision that saw the project awarded to China Railway Seventh Group.