(3 minutes read) (Global; EU)
Senegal and the French group Meridiam, which specialises in the financing and development of infrastructure had signed a contract for the acquisition and management of electric buses in Dakar, capital city of Senegal. The move is a part of decongesting Dakar.
The city authorities are implementing The BRT (bus rapid transfer) project. The work is already  underway and is  aiming  to provide Dakar with electric rapid buses from 2023 onwards. The investment involved for the project is  27 billion FCFA (193.6 million euros). The total cost of the BRT project is more than 300 billion FCFA (€450 million). The project is  financed by donors such as the World Bank.
Senegal signed the contract with Meridiam and a consortium made up of the French state-owned companies SNCF and RATP, the French transport operator Kéolis and Fonsis, a Senegalese investment fund. The companies have signed a 15-year concession contract with the Senegal government. That covers the acquisition, operation and maintenance of rolling stock and BRT systems. Meridiam will have the provision of a fleet of 100% electric buses fitted with batteries. The size of the fleet initially will be 121.
The BRT project has provisions for construction of workshops and depots. More than 80 km of roads and pavements have to be developed. It complements the regional express train (TER) running between Dakar and its suburbs.
The two transport systems, BRT and TER, it is hoped, will relieve congestion in Dakar, where 0.3% of Senegal’s 17 million people live. Also, most of the country’s economic activities are concentrated in the capital city, where traffic jams cost the city 152 million euros per year.
