Put into circulation on 27 December 2021 by the President of the Republic Macky Sall, the Regional Express Train continues to fuel the debate in Senegalese society. Alioune Tine, the founder of Afrikajom Center, while agreeing with the TER project, deplores the lack of transparency in the development of the project and the exorbitant cost of this rail network launched since 2017.
Alioune Tine is invited to the debate on the global budget of the Regional Express Train, a project to facilitate the movement of populations between Dakar and Diamniadio. Even if he approves the idea of this project in the transport of populations with the many traffic jams on the highway, he continues to wonder about the cost of the TER for the Senegalese taxpayer. For him, the real problem is not in the project itself, which shows a pressing need of the populations in the field of transport. But the real debate must be directed towards the large financial resources that have been deployed to make it possible to put the TER into circulation.” The Ter’s great sin is the cost and of course the problems of transparency which are debated. However, by going to AIBD airport, we have to acknowledge its positive impact on the motorway’s decongestion,” Alioune Tine said on her Twitter account on Tuesday 4 January 2022.
The overall cost of the TER is estimated at 780 billion CFA francs, including a loan from France worth 235.3 billion francs. The African Development Bank (AfDB) contributed 111 billion CFA francs while the Islamic Development Bank contributed 196.6 billion CFA francs to the project. Senegal has disbursed 250 billion CFA francs according to official figures.
