Asian-African Line
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goals. With this breakthrough, there is now a precedent for other cities across
Name of City: City of Dakar
Africa to benefit from lower transaction
Name of Country/Region: Senegal
costs and lower credit terms as well as
Geographic Region: Africa (Sub-Saharan)
less skepticism from investors as they
Population:1,256,000 (2013)
seek mainstream sources of finance for their respective capital projects.
Surface Area: 82.83 km
2
Population Density: 15,246 people / km
2
GDP Per Capita: USD 1,900 Title or Slogan of the Initiative: Dakar
Background of the Initiative
Municipal Finance Program: Accessing the Power of Capital Markets to Improve the
Facing rapidly increasing urbanization
Quality of Life for the Urban Disadvantaged
(more than 3% per year), a growing deficit
Groups
in infrastructure and urban facilities, and
Start Date of the Initiative: October, 2011 End Date of the Initiative: December, 2016 Thematic Areas: Society Economy Governance / Management
a limited annual budget (of approximately USD 75 million annually), the City of Dakar’s leadership was seeking an alternative financing tool to meet its long-term development goals. Under the leadership of the Municipal Council of Dakar, the Dakar Municipal Finance Program (DMFP) has been developed to enable the City of Dakar to gain access to
the benefit of full guarantees from the
capital markets for its investment needs.
central government. It enlisted financial
Through the launch of a bond to build
and technical supports from a wide range
a strategically-located marketplace for
of organizations including the Bill and
relocated street vendors, Dakar Municipal
Melinda Gates Foundation, the World
Finance Program’s central project has
Bank, the United States Agency for
a direct impact on the lives of 6,000
International Development and Cities
households (around 35,000 people). With
Alliance. A total of USD 4 million was
the engagement of other private and
raised for the project. Equally importantly,
public parties, especially the financial
the city now has access to a new financing
assistance of the Bill and Melinda Gates
mechanism to achieve its development
Foundation (USD 5.5 million over four