Dakar is set to launch a fleet of fully electric buses

Meridiam, a global investor and asset manager specializing in developing, financing and managing long-term public infrastructure projects, has signed a $212.7 million contract with Dakar's Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system to provide the city with a fleet of 121 electric buses. Meridian will acquire, operate, and maintain the new electric bus fleet scheduled to begin next year, 2023, as authorized by the Executive Council for Urban Transport in Dakar, which is part of the Senegalese Transport Ministry.

Meridiam and its partners began direct negotiations with the government in July 2020, with the first funds provided by FONSIS - the country's strategic development fund. Following that, an open-access environmental and social impact assessment was filed and approved by the World Bank, one of the project's primary donors. The verified plan for the BRT project indicates that it will run entirely on recycled batteries and will save 59,000 tons of carbon dioxide. Additionally, it will generate 1,000 jobs, 1/3 of which will be earmarked for women and youth.

The BRT program calls for the repair or rehabilitation of nearly 80 kilometres of roadways in Dakar and the development of workshops, depots, and terminals along lines stretching 18 kilometres from the city centre. This would be a significant economic and social development, given the estimated $166.87 million costs of annual traffic congestion in the nation's capital.