The Vice President of the World Bank for West and Central Africa Ousmane Diagana held a press briefing on Wednesday, June 2, 2021, celebrating the end of his mission in Niger. On the occasion, he announced that the institution had approved $500 million in funding for the implementation of the Kandadji Dam Project. “The World Bank is contributing nearly 500 million dollars (about 270 billion CFA francs) to the Kandadji program, or 25% of the budget,” said the Vice President of the World Bank for West and Central Africa

With this envelope, the Breton Woods institution becomes the 2nd largest funder of this important project after the African Development Bank (AfDB). “Kandadji is an important program for the World Bank,” said Ousmane Diagana, who stressed that “this project will boost the economy through the development of agriculture through water control and energy production

Indeed, launched in August 2008, construction work on the Kandadji dam, initially awarded to the Russians, was only able to start in 2019, after the Chinese CGGC Group took over the project.