Emirati Dubai Port World to invest more than $840 million
Cooperation between the United Arab Emirates and Senegal is further strengthened. The Emirati group Dubai Port World (DP World) has just announced an investment of $ 840 million for the realization of the deep-water port project of Ndayane.La first phase of the Ndayane deep-water port project 70 kilometers from Dakar, the Senegalese capital has just benefited from an Emirati investment of $840 million. The agreement for the construction of this port and its special economic zone on 1,200 hectares was signed in December 2020.
"We worked a lot with the France and the West. In 2000, we also turned to China, then to Turkey and now the Middle East," says Khadim Bamba Diagne, a research professor at the Economic and Monetary Research Analysis Laboratory. For him, multiplying financial partners allows Senegal to appreciate offers and choose according to its own interests.
Ali Sultan Rashid Alharbi, the UAE's ambassador to Senegal, says the partnership with the UAE dates back to 2008, when DP World was chosen to manage the autonomous port of Dakar. "In total, 125 billion CFA francs [190.5 million euros] have been mobilized to acquire high-performance equipment and equipment, and to strengthen Dakar's competitiveness in West Africa," he explains
The Senegalese head of state reassures that Senegal "will be a shareholder in the concessionaire company, as it is now for toll motorways". The future container port is supposed to decongest the Senegalese capital and allow it to relocate truck traffic to Mali.