The Gambia River Basin Development Organization (which involves The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Senegal) has awarded the contract for the construction of Sambangalou multi-purpose dam in the Kédougou region, south-east of Senegal, close to the Guinean border.
The over US$ 471m contract was awarded to a consortium composed of VINCI Construction Grand Projects, lead company, and VINCI Construction Terrassement, subsidiaries of VINCI Construction which has 75% stake in the partnership, and their partners Andritz Hydro Germany and Andritz Hydro Austria, the two of which are subsidiaries of the Andritz Group, an Austrian hydroelectric power stations turbine designer and manufacturer that has 25% stake in the Sambangalou multi-purpose dam syndicate.
The scope of the project
The construction works of the project involve the construction of a dam measuring 91 m in height, with a reservoir that will extend over 181 km², straddling Senegal and Guinea. The works, according to the Gambia River Basin Development Organization, will be divided into three phases. The first phase will involve the construction of the project’s access roads, the Kédougou Bridge, and the organization’s housing estate.
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The second phase will be focused on the construction of a dam and a hydroelectric power station while the last phase concerns the installation of electro-hydro mechanical equipment in the previously mentioned hydroelectric power station which upon completion will have a capacity of 128 MW.
Work will begin in the first half of next year and is expected to last for 48 months.
Funding for the project
The Sambangalou multi-purpose dam project is funded by approximately 10 financial institutions including the African Development Bank (ADB), the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), the German development agency, the French Development Agency (AFD), the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED), the West African Development Bank (BOAD), the World Bank and Exim-Bank of China.
The governments of The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, and Senegal, will also contribute financially to the implementation of the Sambangalou hydropower development project
