Mali - Trans-Sahara Highway Project (TSH-Phase 2 –Bourem-Kidal Section)

The proposed project concerns the Bourem-Kidal Section on the Malian section of the Trans-Sahara Highway (TSH) – an infrastructure at the centre of economic, social, political and security stakes for the continent. The highway is located in the Algiers/Lagos and Dakar/Djibouti Trans-African corridors, identified by the Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDA), as priority projects to achieve NEPAD objectives by 2020. The 9,022-km TSH serves six countries (Algeria, Niger, Mali, Nigeria, Tunisia and Chad) and comprises one main trunk, Alger/Lagos (4,498 km) and three secondary sections: the Tunisian section (866 km); the Malian section (2,461 km) and the Chadian section (1,197 km). Since significant financial resources need to be mobilised to develop these corridors, the States concerned opted for a gradual and phased development strategy. The Malian section of TSH, which is 2,461 km long, includes sections towards Niger (203 km) and others towards Algeria (741 km). This Phase 2 of the TSH Project concerns the Bourem-Kidal section (285.83km). Implementing it will help to resolve the major issues of peace, security, economic and social development, and fragility. The project is perceived by the Malian authorities as a factor of national unity, peace and social cohesion. Not only will it open up the Kidal region and strengthen the process of pacification of the Northern zones of Mali, it will also increase trade between Kidal and the other regions of the country as well as between Mali and Algeria. The project also comes as a political response to the imbalanced regional development so much decried by armed movements in Northern Mali. This intervention is crucial for the Liptako-Gourma sub-region and particularly for Mali since it will help to strengthen national unity and reduce development inequalities. Furthermore, it will help to strengthen the implementation of the Peace and Reconciliation Agreement following the Algiers process and signed on 15 May and 20 June 2015 in Bamako between the Government and the armed rebellion. Project implementation will span 6 years for a total cost, net of taxes and customs duty, including physical contingencies and price escalation, of UA 110.52 million.