Senegal – Dakar Saint Louis Highway Project
T he Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) is incorporating climate adaptation into the African Development Bank’s Autoroute Dakar Saint-Louis Phase I Project in Senegal under the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program (AAAP). GCA is providing technical assistance to deliver climate-smart transport asset management guidelines, including downstream operations and maintenance and heavy maintenance investment options to optimize the resilience of the road over time.
Climate change impacts cause damage to expensive transport assets and disrupt the services they provide. Asset damages, economic production decline, and the loss of lives associated with floods along the coast in 2017 were estimated to cost Senegal’s economy a total of $230 million or 1.4 percent of GDP. While engineering solutions are often prioritized, the resilience of infrastructure assets, and roads in particular, is largely driven by downstream asset management. Adaptation options include engineering solutions for reinforcing the road pavement and drainage systems, and non-engineering solutions for operations and maintenance, which could include early warning systems, adaptive maintenance planning, and green solutions, such as actively maintaining vegetation along roads.
Investment Value Influenced by GCA
US$213.97 million
Beneficiaries
6.9 million inhabitants in the direct area of influence
Implementation Period
2022-2026
Partners
GCA’s Added Value
GCA is providing the following upstream technical assistance to the project:
- High-resolution, asset-level climate risk and vulnerability assessments with damages estimated at $34.4 million and $37.3 million per year in 2050 for moderate and high-emissions global warming scenarios respectively
- Innovative solutions for downstream operations and maintenance and heavy maintenance investment options prioritization with returns ranging from $1.66 to 4.23 for each dollar spent
- Building capacity through the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar to mainstream resilience for transport infrastructure planning, design, and operations through GCA’s Changemakers School
Expected Outcomes
GCA’s support will make the following project outcomes more effective, efficient, and sustainable:
- 200 kilometers of resilient highway development
- 22 percent decrease in average vehicle operating costs for light vehicles and 27 percent for heavy goods vehicles.
- 21,408 direct permanent jobs during the concession period