MCC/Senegal: Reducing Poverty through Country Led Growth

Established in January 2010, MCC’s Resident Country Mission monitors the Senegalese government’s implementation of the USD$540 compact, which entered into force in September 2010 and which will be implemented through September 2015. MCC’s investments through the Compact program will significantly contribute to national growth, while also helping to improve Senegal’s food security. Over the lifetime of the Compact’s projects, they are expected to directly benefit more than 1.6 million individuals. The addition of the Compact funds makes the USG the largest bilateral donor to Senegal.

The Compact has two projects aimed at promoting regional economic poles:

1. Road Rehabilitation Project:  $324 million is being invested in the rehabilitation of two national roads to create reliable, cost-effective and time-saving corridors for accessing social services and for transporting locally produced goods to domestic and international markets, thereby stimulating regional economic activity. Approximately 120 kilometers of the Route Nationale 2 (RN2), an important corridor between Dakar Harbor, Mauritania and Mali, will be rehabilitated from Richard Toll to Ndioum, including a new 150m bridge in Ndioum. As the only national road connecting western Casamance to the rest of Senegal (without travel through the Gambia), upgrading approximately 250 kilometers of the Route Nationale 6 (RN6) from Ziguinchor eastward will provide infrastructure vital to unlocking the regional economy.
2. Irrigation and Water Resources Management Project:  This $170 million project is extending and improving the quality of the irrigation system in the Senegal River Delta and the Department of Podor. The investments will enable up to 36,000 hectares of land to be irrigated and put to extended agricultural use in the Delta, and 440 hectares of newly irrigated land in the Podor.  As Senegal currently imports most of its rice, these investments will also move Senegal closer to greater food security. The project includes a land tenure activity to secure the beneficiary land rights, and the project may also support daycare, live stock  centers and warehouses in the irrigation zones.