LAWFUEL – MidEast Legal News – Port Autonome de Dakar and holding company Dubai World have signed the concession agreement handing Dubai Port World responsibility for operating and developing Senegal’s busiest container terminal.
Director General of the Port Autonome de Dakar, Bara Sady, and Chairman of holding company Dubai World, Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, have signed on Monday 8 October 2007 in Dakar the concession agreement handing Dubai Port World (DP World) responsibility for operating and developing Senegal’s busiest container terminal. The signing ceremony was also attended by Senegal Prime Minister Cheikh Hadjibou Soumaré.
DP World plans to contribute more than €500 million (US$709 million) through direct investment and participating shareholding by the Port Authority of Dakar, which is at no direct capital cost.
The agreement gives DP World management of the current Dakar container terminal (Terminal à Conteneur) from the end of this year, and development of a brand new container terminal at Port du Futur. DP World has committed more than €115 million (US$163 million) to the existing terminal. It will double capacity to around 550,000 TEUs (twenty foot equivalent container units). The first phase of this development will be complete by 2010.
The second phase of the project will be to design, finance, construct and manage the new Port du Futur container terminal, which will have potential capacity of 1.75 million TEUs. Port du Futur is expected to be operational by early 2011. It requires an overall investment of more than €335 million (over US$476 million).
Clifford Chance (Rémi Sermier, Debra Counsell, Lionel Vincent, Guenièvre Bordinat, Emmanuel Mavroïdis) and the Senegalese law firm François Sarr & associés (François Sarr) advised DP World during the whole procedure.
During the negotiations with DP World, the Port Autonome de Dakar was assisted by Rasseck Bourgi, member of the Paris Bar.
