Info or Infox: what about the TGV of Morocco or TER of Senegal?

Decryption. The controversy comes from the architect Pierre Atepa Goudiaby, candidate for the candidacy for the next presidential elections of Senegal. In an interview with the press, the now full-fledged politician makes a tasty comparison: “Do you also know that the Regional Express Train (Ter) of 30 km costs about 1 billion euros and that the Moroccan TGV that was inaugurated Thursday, cost two billion euros and is 300 km? When you are faced with choices like this, you say that it is not possible for us to manage a country like this, “says Pierre Atepa Goudiaby. What is the share of info and infox?

Morocco has inaugurated Al Boraq (named after the fast steed that transported the prophet of Islam in the story of the ascent), its TGV, Thursday, November 15, 2018. Senegal will cut the ribbons of his Train Regional Express in February 2019.

 With the TGV, the route separating Tanger from Casablanca, 400 km long, half by high speed, falls at 2 hours 10 minutes against 4:30 in the past. The one separating Dakar from Blaise Diagne airport, 50 km away, should be connected in 48 minutes.

The Moroccan project was launched in 2007 but did not start until 2011, four years late. Senegal’s was launched in December 2016 for a planned delivery 26 months later.

Both books have French companies for suppliers and technical and financial partners. If Dakar proceeded by tender, Morocco conceded the work via a direct agreement that benefited Alstom to the detriment of Siemens, which is not unrelated to the refusal of the European Investment Bank to lend to Kingdom the necessary complement to financing.

It should be recalled that in the case of Senegal, the French Alstom was also selected at the end of the international call for tenders for the supply and commissioning of a fleet of rolling stock dual-mode self-propelled, gasoline or electric), ahead of the Norinco International Chinese.

The shadow of French French Alstom

On the Moroccan TGV, the purchase of the 12 Alstom Euroduplex trains was concluded by mutual agreement. The Ansaldo-Ineo consortium took care of the signaling and the telecoms, the Cegelec of the electric substations, the consortium Colas Rail-Egis Rail of the tracks and catenaries. SNCF took over the project management from ONCF (the Moroccan SNCF).

On the Senegalese TER, the consortium formed between Eiffage, CSE (Senegalese group) and Turkish Yapi Merkezi is awarded the first batch worth 330 billion CFA francs. Lot 2 (CFAF 148 billion) was won by the Engie-Thalèes tandem while lot 3 (CFAF 10 billion) was won by the French industrial companies NGE, TSO and CIM in partnership with CSE.

Financial montages

In detail, France has mobilized 11 billion dirhams (1.1 billion euros), or 51% of the overall investment of the project. This, through 625 million euros via a loan dedicated to emerging countries, 300 million by the French Development Agency and a grant of 75 million euros.

The Arab countries that filled the EIB’s defection brought in 400 million euros, of which 144 million euros through the Saudi Development Fund, 100 million by the Kuwait Fund for Arab Development, 70 million euros by Abu Dhabi and 86 million by the Fades.

Morocco has mobilized 4.8 billion dirhams (1 euro = 11 dirhams) in more than a billion provided by the Hassan II Fund for Economic and Social Development. The cost of this line, supposed to be the cheapest in the world, should be 9 million euros per km against 20 million euros per km in France.

In the case of Senegal, the project is expected to cost 568 billion FCFA excluding taxes (867 million euros) on section I (Dakar-Diamniado, 30 km long) and was financed at 124 billion FCFA by the State of Senegal. Senegal, 120 billion FCFA by the African Development Bank, 415 billion FCFA by the Islamic Development Bank and 129.6 billion by AFD and the French Treasury.

 Beyond the project, it should be noted that the compensation costs of the landowners affected by the route of the TER reached 42 billion FCFA according to a note from the ADB.

200 km of high speed in Morocco and 50 km of express train in Senegal

The Moroccan TGV has cost 2.1 billion euros against 568 billion FCFA (868 million euros excluding taxes) for the Senegalese Regional Express Train according to statements made in January 2018 by the Minister in charge of Development of the Rail Network, Abdou Ndéné Sall, in response to MP Ousmane Sonko. The latter, also candidate for the presidential candidacy of February 2019, estimated that the real cost of the project was 1,200 billion FCFA (1.8 billion euros). In an interview on RFM radio, the minister was even clearer, estimating lot I, the section Dakar-Diamniadio, along 30 km, will cost 702 billion FCFA, or 1.07 billion euros.

Note that in the Moroccan project, high speed (320 km / h) will be reached between Tangier and Kenitra. The train will then continue on its way to Casablanca by the classic route, via the capital Rabat. The project involves 200 km of railroad.

And the cost of the railway kilometer is …

This means in the end and ignoring the costs of compensation for the expropriated land, fluctuating capital costs, that the kilometer has returned, according to estimates by Financial Afrik, to 5.25 million euros in Morocco against 10, 5 million euros in Senegal. If we take the words of the Senegalese Secretary of State in charge of the railway, Abdou Ndéné Sall, it falls again on a kilometer which cost 35 million euros on the section Dakar-Diamniadio. This comparison obviously remains to be completed by expert opinions and specific parameters for each project.

Period of operation

The State of Senegal will entrust the operation and maintenance of the TER to the SNCF / RATP group, constituted in the form of a company incorporated under Senegalese law, through an Exploitation and Maintenance Contract with a minimum duration of five years. . The Moroccan TGV will be operated by the National Office of Railways (ONCF), which manages the entire Moroccan rail network.

 Part of the operation will be used in the case of Senegal to repay loans. The Moroccan scheme of financing and exploitation grants a greater margin of maneuver to the State and its technical arm in the determination of the tariffs.

Proven profitability?

 Has the economic and social profitability of both projects been proven? With 115,000 passengers transported per day, the TER will participate in the decongestion of Dakar, capital of Senegal. Ditto for the Moroccan TGV linking the Mediterranean coast and the Tanger Med project to the Atlantic cities of Kenitra, Rabat and Casablanca, the industrial hub driving the Moroccan economy.

The controversies continue

In Morocco as in Senegal, polemics, fueled by politicians and civil society, are numerous. The project launched in 2007 by Mohammed VI and Nicolas Sarkozy is seen as a compensation related to the choice of Morocco, which had preferred the American F16 French Rafale. In Senegal, experts believe that the Senegalese TER was designed to save Alstom from bankruptcy.

In Morocco collective Stop TGV, which gathers several Moroccan associations, was created in 2012. For its members, priority must be given to the development of the traditional network, which today includes only about 2,000 km of tracks.

In Senegal, politicians and members of civil society believe that the national rail network and the Dakar-Bamako line, which are more strategic, must first be rehabilitated. The architect Pierre Goudiaby believes for his part to have suggested in his time the construction of the railway line Dakar-Tambacounda-Kolda-Ziguinchor with Indian funding.

In Morocco, the collective criticizes the cost of the project and evokes the equivalent that could have been created in other areas. “The same investment, but for conventional railway lines, would not only contribute to the development of landlocked areas but could create more jobs than the 1,300 planned by the TGV,” says the collective. According to its members, the cost of the TGV could have allowed the creation of 25,000 schools in rural areas.

Scratch pad

* The 200-kilometer long high-speed track, which will be inaugurated this Thursday, November 15, is in fact only the first step of an ambitious project to provide the territory with a 1,500-kilometer high-speed line.

* The Moroccan LGV that will be commissioned shortly has required 700,000 crossings, 1,600 tons of ballast, 7,400 catenary poles, 12 viaducts including that of El Hachef 3.5 km long, 169 road bridges and railway bridges without counting a hundreds of hydraulic works.

* The Senegalese TER:

– A fast track (160 km / h) to international standards, which includes the creation of a double double standard gauge for travelers and a metric track for freight.

? -An electrified line (25 kV)?

-A (1) maintenance deposit? Two mode rolling stock (4 boxes)?

-Maintain for the freight of the existing capacity on separate tracks, with possibility of passing to the standard gauge. ?

-19km of new lines between Diamniadio and AIBD?

-New lanes will allow sufficient axle load to accommodate freight trains in the future.