(Ecofin Agency) - Mali wants to invest a little more than XOF10,000 billion ($17.19 billion) in the infrastructure sector, Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga, the country’s prime minister announced during a meeting with the private sector on February 15, 2019.

According to the minister’s statements reported by the government’s website, half of these funds (XOF5,000 billion) will be invested in road infrastructures and for the creation of a special economic zone in Sikasso. In the framework of these infrastructures development projects, a 1,075-kilometer road will be built linking Timbuktu (Mali) to Mauritania along with the fourth bridge in Bamako and a viaduct on Niger river. The 710 kilometre road linking Mali to Senegal will also be renovated.

For the official, the private sector’s help is needed to implement this investment programme. “I announced to my interlocutors [the private sector’s representatives] the government’s will, with their help and support, to invest …. In an ambitious infrastructures development programme”, Soumeylou Boubèye Maïga said.

If materialized, this investment could help bridge the country’s infrastructure gap estimated at $283 million per year (in the water sector mostly).  

Mouka Mezonlin