Senegal Opens CRBC-Built Mbour-Kaolack Highway Ahead of Schedule

Senegal opened the Mbour-Kaolack highway to traffic on Saturday at a ceremony in Thiadiaye, in the country's western Thies Region, formally connecting the coastal city of Mbour with Kaolack in central Senegal.

The 99.2-kilometre road was built by China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), a state-owned Chinese construction firm that has carried out several major infrastructure projects across the country. President Bassirou Diomaye Faye attended the opening and unveiled a plaque marking the project's completion.

Faye told attendees the highway reflects the "quality of the relations between Senegal and China", framing the project as evidence of deepening cooperation between the two countries rather than a standalone infrastructure milestone.

He also said the road was "particularly important for facilitating travel" within central Senegal, pointing to improved connectivity between that region and the rest of the country as one of the highway's central benefits.

According to the president, the project came in ahead of its original schedule. It had been due for delivery at the end of September but opened to traffic weeks earlier, in late August. Faye thanked the Chinese side for its support and said he welcomed further deepening of bilateral cooperation going forward.

The Mbour-Kaolack route forms part of a wider pattern of CRBC-built road infrastructure in Senegal. The firm has previously completed the Thies-Touba motorway, commonly known locally as Ila Touba, along with the Mbour-AIBD-Thies motorway linking the capital region to Blaise Diagne International Airport.

Construction on the Mbour-Kaolack stretch faced specific engineering challenges tied to the region's terrain. Large sections of the route run through fine sand and saline soils, conditions that required substantial volumes of laterite fill to stabilise the road surface and limit settlement over time. Much of that material had to be transported from borrow pits located tens of kilometres from the construction site, since suitable laterite was not available locally.

The highway falls under Senegal's national infrastructure planning framework, which has prioritised road expansion to support trade and mobility between the country's coastal and inland regions. Kaolack, the highway's eastern terminus, serves as a commercial hub for central Senegal, while Mbour anchors a stretch of coastline that includes tourism and fishing activity.

CRBC's continued presence in Senegal reflects a broader trend across parts of West Africa, where Chinese state-owned contractors have taken on a significant share of major road and bridge construction in recent years, often financed through a mix of government and international backing.

With the Mbour-Kaolack highway now open, attention shifts to how quickly traffic volumes and regional trade activity respond to the improved route, a pattern typically monitored in the months following the opening of major highway projects.