Senegal will cancel a 32-year water infrastructure deal that was signed by former president Macky Sall with Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power company due to its high cost, the minister of water and sanitation said.
Valued at $800 million, the contract for the construction and operation of a desalination plant in the capital Dakar was signed in March in the final days of Sall’s presidency.
Touted as the largest project of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa, the plant’s production capacity of 400,000 cubic meters per day was intended to alleviate shortages in a country where water withdrawals are forecast to rise by up to 60% by 2035, according to the World Bank.