THE Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has granted Senegal an additional funding of about $4.67 million to fund the implementation of the port of Dakar’s Pier 3 modernisation project.
This grant is subject to an agreement signed last month by the Senegalese Minister of the Economy, Amadou Hott, and the Japanese ambassador to Senegal, Arai Tatsuo. It brings the total amount of Japan’s investments in this programme to nearly $40 million.
Overview of the project
The port of Dakar’s Pier 3 modernisation project was launched on July 4, 2019. The works comprise, among other things, the construction of a 350-metre long sheet pile quay and the rehabilitation of embankments and traffic lanes.
Hott said that the project is necessary because it will help increase the port’s competitiveness and turnover, and consolidate the role it plays in the development of foreign trade in Senegal and in the sub-region.
Owing to its new ability to accommodate ships with up to a capacity of 35,000 tonnes and a length of 190 metres, Pier 3 of the port of Dakar that has an exceptional geographical position – the most advanced point of the West African coast – at the intersection of the routes linking Europe to South America, and North America to South Africa should be able to handle 1.2 million tonnes of goods at the least upon completion of the works sometime next year.
Built between 1939 and 1969, the port of Dakar’s Pier 3 is essentially dedicated to transit traffic from Mali, a West African country that the port of Dakar handles the majority of goods from and to.