The €388m (£353m) contract is for the Sambangalou Dam, which is designed to generate renewable energy, improve irrigation and supply drinking water.
The consortium, is led by Vinci Construction, which has a 75% share, signed the contract with the Gambia River Basin Development Organisation, which involves The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau and Senegal. The consortium is led by Vinci Construction Grands Projets working with fellow Vinci Construction subsidiary Vinci Construction Terrassement. Vinci has a 75% share of the consortium, with the remaining 25% held by their partner Andritz, an Austrian turbine manufacturer.
The contract follows on from an initial phase conducting studies and preparatory work, which took place over a period of 18 months.
Work on the 91m-high dam will begin in the first half of 2021 and is scheduled to last 48 months. At its peak, the project will employ 1,000 people recruited and trained locally.
Once the project has been delivered, the drinking water treatment station set up for the project will remain in operation and the site buildings will be donated to schools. In addition, engineers from the consortium will be involved in classes at the Kédougou technical high school.
The electricity generated by the dam will be injected into the grid of the four countries of the Gambia River Basin Development Organisation, where Vinci Energies is installing several hundred kilometres of high voltage lines.
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