Saint-Louis Region
Saint-Louis' UNESCO colonial heritage and Senegal River mouth host the 255MW gas power plant (2025) as the Dakar highway improves northern connectivity.
Saint-Louis preserves Senegal's colonial heritage in the UNESCO-listed island city that served as capital of French West Africa before Dakar's rise. The region's northern position at the Senegal River mouth creates fisheries, agriculture, and trade functions that the historic architecture tourism partially monetizes.
The 255 MW Saint-Louis power plant (expandable to 500 MW), supplied by gas from the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim LNG project and expected to start operating in 2025, represents the energy infrastructure that hydrocarbon development enables. The Dakar-Thiès-Tivaouane-Saint-Louis highway investment improves connectivity that distance from the capital has historically constrained.
The region's position between the fishing grounds of the Atlantic, the agricultural potential of the Senegal River valley, and the new gas-fired power infrastructure creates economic diversification that single-sector regions lack. Whether Saint-Louis can leverage these assets—or whether historical significance remains the primary attraction—shapes whether colonial heritage constrains or enables development.