The deputy CEO of the U.S. Government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation, Nancy Lee, concluded a successful trip to Senegal this week to tour MCC project sites and participate in the inauguration of a bridge funded under the MCC compact—a large-scale grant designed to reduce poverty by tackling systemic barriers to economic growth.
Lee joined President Macky Sall, U.S. Ambassador James P. Zumwalt and other Senegalese and American officials on Feb. 21 to inaugurate the Kolda Bridge in southern Senegal. The bridge is a key component of MCC’s investments in transportation infrastructure in the Casamance region and will help the region’s farmers, merchants, and transporters efficiently deliver their products to the port of Ziguinchor and reach regional and international markets.
Lee also met with members of the development community and MCA-Senegal, the local organization implementing the compact. She also toured project sites benefiting from MCC-funded irrigation investments in the country’s northwest.
“MCC’s investment in Senegal is on track to produce the kind of results that we aim for,” Lee said. “Senegal’s commitment to reforms that strengthen transport planning and maintenance and sustain our investments is fundamental to this progress. These reforms will have impact far beyond this investment by expanding the benefits of other infrastructure investments after our compact is completed.”
The five-year, $540-million Senegal Compact is helping stimulate economic growth, increase agriculture productivity and expand access to markets through the rehabilitation of major national roads and investments in irrigation and water resource management infrastructure. The compact is expected to benefit more than 1.5 million people.
For more information on Lee’s visit to Senegal, contact MCC Public Affairs at 202-521-3880.