Chinese Government provides RMB 172 million grant for Bissau-Safim Motorway Project

Project narrative

In November 2016, a Chinese team was dispatched to Guinea-Bissau to undertake preliminary work on the Bissau-Safim Motorway Project. Then, on September 20, 2018, the Chinese Government and the Government of Guinea-Bissau signed an implementation agreement for the Bissau-Safim Motorway Project. China’s Ministry of Commerce was the source of funding and it committed RMB 172 million ($16.5 million) in total. The project involves the construction of an 8.2 km highway with six lanes (three in each direction) between the cities of Bissau and Safim. Each lane is to be 3.5 meters wide. The highway is also to include lighting that is powered by photovoltaic energy. During construction, electricity cables and water pipes are to be laid and the highway is to be coated with 11 cm thick bituminous concrete. Upon completion, the highway is expected to reduce the travel times between the two cities by 50%. Construction was originally expected to start after August 2018, when Minister Óscar Barbosa and the Chinese Ambassador to China, Jin Hongjun, discussed the need for implementation of the project. It was originally expected to reach completion within 24 months (August 2020). However, the project suffered from implementation delays due to issues related to compensation of homeowners that live alongside the route of the road. As of mid-2020, MOFCOM had not yet selected a contractor to implement the project and road construction was scheduled to begin in the first quarter of 2021. Then, on January 22, 2021, the project’s groundbreaking ceremony took place. Longjian Road & Bridge Co., Ltd. (龙建股份) is the contractor that MOFCOM ultimately selected to implement the project. On February 10, 2022, the Chinese Ambassador to Guinea-Bissau visited the project site. At that point, a a total of 70,000 cubic meters of roadbed earthworks had been completed. Then, in January 2023, local residents of Ponta Rocha (a community along the route of the highway) staged a protest and erected barricades with sticks, stones and car tires. Prior to the protest, they lobbied Longjian Road & Bridge Co., Ltd. — without success — for one year to ‘water’ the highway under construction to reduce dust levels, which created health hazards for children living in the area. On February 24, 2023 and May 15, 2023, the Chinese Ambassador to Guinea-Bissau conducted on-site project inspections. Then, on August 22, 2023, the Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau and Chinese Ambassador to Guinea-Bissau jointly conducted an on-site project inspection. The highway was officially inaugurated on June 16, 2025.