SENEGAL: GGGI and Cetud join forces for sustainable mobility in Dakar
The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) and Senegal's Executive Council for Sustainable Urban Transport (Cetud) have just signed a memorandum of understanding to optimize the development of urban mobility in Dakar and other cities affected by road congestion.
The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is impressed by the dynamism of Senegal's Executive Council for Sustainable Urban Transport (Cetud), which in January 2024 commissioned the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Dakar, the very first in sub-Saharan Africa. The infrastructure serves an average of 300,000 passengers a day.
But this green mode of transport (a network of 121 electric buses) will not be enough on its own to completely relieve congestion in the Senegalese capital and other cosmopolitan cities.Galais and other cosmopolitan cities in the face of numerous challenges such as interminable traffic jams, pollution and the inclusion of vulnerable people. Recognizing this, GGI and Cetud recently signed a memorandum of understanding.
It covers the improvement of urban mobility in this West African country through support for governance and capacity building for public transport agents and operators. "There arestill major challenges to be met to decarbonize transport. This partnership will be extremely important in that it will give new impetus to the planning framework, but above all to the major challenge of financing green mobility", explains Thierno Birahim, General Manager of Cetud.
Two major projects underway
The two institutions are committed to the success of several ongoing projects, including the implementation of the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan (PMUD). This plan "is based on a new vision of mobility that takes a multimodal approach, prioritizing collective and active mobility. Its implementation should lead to a 60% improvement in the reliability of the public transport network", says Cetud. At the same time, the second phase of the Dakar Regional Express Train (TER) is underway to stabilize road traffic by encouraging rail transport.
The project involves the construction of a 19-kilometre stretch of track to extend the rail infrastructure to Blaise Diagne International Airport (AIBD), just a few minutes from Diamniadio. The ultimate aim is to ease intercity travel while avoiding emissions of 92,000 tonnes ofCO2 equivalent per year. The project is financed to the tune of 35 billion CFA francs (53.4 million euros) by the West African Development Bank (BOAD).
Source: www.afrik21.africa/
