On May 1, 2023, the chief of staff of the Guinean presidency and chairman of the strategic monitoring committee of the Simandou project, Djiba Diakité, and the minister secretary general and spokesperson of the presidency, Colonel Amara CAMARA, attended the inauguration of a new bridge in Kolata. The $ 4 million bridge was funded by Winning Simandou Consortium, a key player in the Simandou project.

The bridge in Kolata is 27 - meter long, 7.8 meter - wide and 6.5 meter-deep. It was built over the Mamkudu river and will help open up part of the Forécariah area, facilitate people and goods transport, and foster business transactions between localities in that area, endowed with a huge farming potential.

The inauguration of the bridge will put an end to the diffculties encountered by the inhabitants of the Yindi district and the locality of Senguelen to go directly to Forécariah without having to go through Maférinyah. For the chairman of the Simandou project monitoring committee, Djiba Diakité, the new bridge will improve the traffic for the benefit of this great, food-producing prefecture (Forécariah). The locally produced farming products will now be easily sold to other parts of Lower Guinea.

Complying with local content

The building of this bridge is in compliance with the local content and with the Simandou project environmental and social impacts studies recommendations. It represents a real support for the development of Guinea and the chairman of the Simandou project strategic monitoring committee recalled the determination of the country to complete successfully the Simandou project for the well-being of Guineans.

The minister of mining and geology, Moussa Magassouba, also said that the bridge will be a lever for local economic growth and population mixing. It will boost economic and commercial exchanges within the Forécariah prefecture and contribute to strengthen the real development of the capital city, Conakry.

espite the real progress made as regards the Simandou project, challenges to tackle still remain for its full success. Collaboration between business partners of the Transguinean company, aimed at building and managing the rail and port infrastructure of the Simandou project is difficult as we know that the creation of this jointvenutre brought about much misunderstanding between the Guinean state and private investors in the project.