The President of the Republic, Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (IBK), gave in the middle of the day of Thursday, February 4, 2019, the first blade stroke. This marks the official start of construction work on an interchange, a viaduct and the development of 10 kilometres of urban roads in the city of Sikasso.

The new jewel is the result of cooperation between Mali and the West African Development Bank (BOAD).

The overall cost excluding tax of the gigantic work is estimated at 31.595 billion of our francs, financed by BOAD and the national budget. The execution time of the work is 27 months.

A promise kept by the President of the Republic, which will allow the industrial take-off of the entire 3rd Region of Mali (Sikasso). The city of Sikasso will be the main hub for economic infrastructure that should lead to different production basins.

President IBK spoke to the press: "Today, come to Sikasso for the first blade of a work as awaited as is an interchange that can facilitate entry to Sikasso and also to the bypass of the city to reduce as much as possible the mortality due to vehicles, to road accidents, is a day of happiness for us, a day of renewed hope.

We had heard this great expectation, we had promised to reflect on it and to look for ways to achieve it."

In addition, the Head of State acknowledged the support of the partner. "Fortunately BOAD has heard us, this is the place to pay tribute to the great fraternity, understanding, competence of our brother the president of BOAD, Christian Adoveland, who took this project as a Malian priority, agreed to it.

And this happened at a time when we are in a tri-national project that will see us next to our brothers from Burkina and Ivory Coast in the Sikobo (Sikasso -Korogho-Bobo), regions of old cultures, historical and prosperous agriculture, agribusiness in the future that has already begun, which is therefore a natural platform and which tomorrow would be a sub-regional hub for the benefit of all local and regional economies; a great factor of integration," he recalled.