Vinci to build dam in Senegal

A consortium led by France-based construction company Vinci has signed a €388 million (US$468 million) contract for the construction of the Sambangalou Dam in Senegal, Africa.

The consortium – of which Vinci Construction’s subsidiaries Grands Projet and Terrassement form 75% and Austrian turbine manufacturer Andritz forms 25% – signed the deal with the Gambia River Basin Development Organisation.

The new Sambangalou Dam, which was agreed after 18 months of initial phase studies and preparatory work, will be built in the south-east of Senegal, close to the Guinean border.

Upon completion it will measure 91m high and will generate around 128MW of renewable energy a year. This will be transferred via hundreds of kilometres of high voltage lines, which are currently being installed by Vinci Construction, to the electricity grids of the four countries that make up the Gambia River Basin Development Organisation: The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal.

According to Vinci, the dam structure will also improve both the irrigation to local farmland and the drinking water supply to the surrounding areas. Construction of Sambangalou Dam will begin in 2021 and see the employment and training of around 1,000 local people.

Construction of the dam is expected to take around four years, during which time the project’s engineers will support the local communities by participating in classes at a local school. Vinci said that when the project ends the worksite’s drinking water treatment station will remain open for local use and that its worksite buildings would be donated to schools in the area.