During the meeting, President Wade said he is eager to demonstrate a successful replication of Bogotá‘s success in Africa by making Dakar an example in sustainable urban transport. President Wade is responsible for implementation of the Transports, Energy and Environment sectors for the New Partnership for African Development, a coalition of African Heads of State, so he is in a unique position to affect change in cities across Africa.

The Building a New City tour will inspire a newly created task force to better coordinate the actors working separately to improve urban transportation in Dakar. Currently, several projects exist to provide safe bicycle and pedestrian routes – including one prepared by new Dakar Mayor Pape Diop, which will be consolidated under the task force.

During the tour, Dakar officials also announced they would submit a proposal to use $2 million from the World Bank Urban Mobility Program for a Bus Rapid Transit system. Two BRT lines were created in the city in 1997, but the bus company in charge of the system collapsed. With technical and institutional support from ITDP’s Senegal staff, the BRT and non-motorized transportation projects will be integrated into a new urban mobility program modeled after Bogotá‘s experience.