The Board of Executive Directors of the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) approved on 28 May, 2014 a Transport Sector Support Project for Senegal for the amount of UA 23.77 million (approximately 35.800 million dollars). The funding is provided through the African Development Fund (ADF) and will serve for the rehabilitation of the Dinguiraye-Nioro-Keur Ayib road in the Kaolack region.

The objective of the project is to facilitate the movement of goods and people along the road, so as to increase trade with the rest of the country and improve the population's access to basic services.

The road, which is about 40 km long, is a section of National Highway No. 4 (NH4) on the "trans-Gambian" corridor. It constitutes an economic and strategic link between the North and South of the Gambia and Senegal on the Dakar-Lagos Trans-African highway.

The project area covers the Kaolack region, with an estimated population of 795,906 inhabitants. "This project is expected to contribute towards boosting sub-regional trade and opening up rural areas in the country," said the director of the Department for Transport and Information and Communication Technologies at the AfDB, Amadou Oumarou.

By financing the project, the Bank will be contributing towards the implementation of the priority actions program of the Senegal Economic Emergence Plan (PSE). Transport infrastructure and services constitute one of the sub-sectors that help to create wealth so as to reduce poverty in Senegal.

The Dinguiraye-Nioro-KeurAyib road rehabilitation project will address the problems of accessibility and opening up of the project area in particular.

"The project will create jobs for youths and women in rural and semi-urban areas and help curb rural exodus from the project area which has a very high net migration," said Emmanuel Mbi, AfDB's First Vice President and Chief Operating Officer who chaired the Board meeting.