Toronto, Ontario & Nouakchott, Mauritania: Following a four-day visit to Nouakchott by a Trans Africa Pipeline (TAP) delegation led by its president and founder, Dr. Roderick Tennyson, TAP, a Toronto-based, non-profit organization, is pleased to announce an historic agreement with the Government of Mauritania.
On May 23, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed by Toronto-based engineer Dr. Roderick Tennyson of TAP Inc. and Her Excellency Mrs. Khadijetou Mbareck Fall, the Deputy Minister for Maghrebian and African Affairs and Mauritanians abroad, representing the Mauritanian government. The agreement affirms that TAP and the government of Mauritania will work together to launch TAP’s Phase One which is construction of a large-scale desalination plant on the coast of Mauritania, solar power plants and approximately 700 km. of pipeline, to transport potable water from the coast of Mauritania into the Sahel region for distribution to communities and for use in agricultural projects.
The MOU also includes the cooperation of the Pan African Great Green Wall agency, the 11 Sahel countries that comprise the Pan African Great Green Wall Project (PAGGW). Ratified in 2010, PAGGW designated a 15 km. wide corridor across the Sahel for intense tree and agricultural planting, to work towards halting the deadly desertification of these countries. The TAP pipeline will approximate the PAGGW route across the 11 countries which include Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti.
At the official invitation of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, Dr. Tennyson returned to Mauritania for a four-day visit this May to sign this first MOU with a national government and the first government member of PAGGW. In addition to Dr. Tennyson, the TAP delegation included TAP Advisory Board members Mr. Robert McCammon (Managing Direction of Kilmurn PPS) and Mr. Angelo Prete (COO, WElink Energy Group). This four-day visit also included travel along the Mauritania coastline to a potential site for the first TAP desalination plant.
This MOU confirms the intent to mutually engage and co-operate during all phases of this historic project including assessment, development, implementation and other related opportunities. To achieve these objectives, a consortium will be established which will include representatives from the Government of Mauritania, the PAGGW, TAP Inc., and the TAP Foundation (TAP’s U.S.-based charitable foundation), for the successful completion of the project in Mauritania and subsequently across the Sahel region.
The signatories agreed that this water pipeline and its associated infrastructure represent the “Concept Validation Phase” created by TAP. This Phase is funded by blended finance from philanthropic donors, investors associated with TAP, private and government organizations, and industrial partners.
Last summer, in 2015, Dr. Tennyson was invited to Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania where the PAGGW organization is headquartered, to present the TAP concept to several PAGGW gatherings of both technical and government representatives. At that meeting, the organization of the 11 Sahel countries voted unanimously to support the implementation of the Trans Africa Pipeline to assist in the establishment of the Great Green Wall. On December 2, 2015, TAP and PAGGW signed a Letter of Intent of Cooperation, the precursor to the signing of a formal Memorandum of Understanding.
TAP is the largest, humanitarian civil engineering project of the 21st century. This MOU marks the start of TAP’s long-standing work towards building a freshwater pipeline across the Sahel area of Africa, beginning in Mauritania. TAP’s continental pipeline is designed to permanently eliminate drought in this perennially drought-stricken area and to reduce, and eventually eliminate, the encroachment of the desert. Currently, thousands of hectares of land are lost to desertification every year across the Sahel countries of Africa.
Released by: TAP