In Guédiawaye, incomprehension and discontent mingle among a section of the population completely dismayed by the decision of the authorities, who have frozen the granting of leases and suspended work on the filaos strip. The detailed urban development plan covering more than 150 ha was intended for housing, roads and various networks, and above all for public facilities and buildings.

Guédiawaye is abuzz with excitement. Following the announcement of a freeze on the granting of leases and the suspension of work on the coastline, voices are being raised to sift the truth from the falsehood. Councillors from various localities in the Guédiawaye, department, the local population, neighbourhood delegates and imams all met at the town hall this weekend to give their versions of the facts concerning the management of the filaos strip in this town on the outskirts of Dakar. Mrs. Adjia Khady Dièye, vice-president of the Taxaw Tem Arr Sunu Gokh movement in Guédiawaye and spokesperson for the customary authorities, recounts the genesis of the downgrading of this strip of land in Guédiawaye, wedged between the sea and the town of Pikine, which was suffocating due to the exhaustion of its land reserves: “This is undoubtedly an event for some people in this country. The filaos strip is the extension of the department of Guédiawaye. In 2014, over 300 councillors worked on a project that brought together several infrastructures along the coast. It’s our land, and today we’ve noticed that there are people who don’t even live in Guédiawaye who own hectares there. We say no! We demand that these plots be returned to us.”

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She continued: “What hurts us is that there are some ill-intentioned people who have ventured to issue a memorandum in our name  stating that our association asked for the decree to be annulled, that’s insane. You really have to be ignorant to think that. We’ve identified them, they’re in power and are doing everything they can to demonize this site in order to integrate others. We know everything, but we stand firm. How is President Diomaye Faye going to resolve this problem he has set in motion?” asked Ms. Dièye.

Khalifa Guèye, president of the Department’s Youth Council and chair of the Youth, Sports and Leisure Commission of the Taxaw Tem Arr Sunu Gokh movement in Guédiawaye, adds: “As the Honourable M P, Mme Dièye, so aptly put it, the downgrading of the Guédiawaye coastline was a concerted development plan initiated by the former municipal team. On the strip, we were to build elementary schools, a college, a high school, a health training centre, a scientific university, a bus station, two women’s centres, a centre for the disabled, a courthouse, which is currently in the completion phase, and so on. And the State had put its services at the disposal of local authorities to work on what is known as the Pud.”

The details of Pud’s 150, 58 ha
Exasperated by the turn of events, Khalifa Guèye sought to set the record straight: “Two individuals, a neighbourhood delegate and a young member of the Pastef party, took the liberty of writing a memorandum in the name of the department’s structures to say that we requested the cancellation of the notifications. But this is not true. We’re waiting to see how President Diamoaye Faye, who says there’s a problem, is going to resolve this problem in Guédiawaye, when there’s no problem at all, apart from people who hold hectares and they’re the ones who know them.  The latter are demanding the return of the leases. They blocked our leases, why, what do they want? We’re asking for our leases to be returned, pure and simple, because that’s our right, and they don’t have the right to blackmail us to get our papers,” continued Mr. Guèye.

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Youssou Ndiaye charged: “President Diomaye and his Prime Minister Sonko know the coastal site well, because they used to come here. We’ve been given information about what’s being planned here, but tomorrow will bring light because we’re not going to allow deals here with the complicity of certain people hiding in the shadows.”

This area, known as the “Filaos Band”, in which the Vdn 3 is located, is part of the Detailed Urban Plan (Pud) program, approved and made enforceable by a decree issued by former Head of State Macky Sall, which allocated the area (150, 58 ha) as follows: “43, 92% of the total surface area of the Pud is reserved for housing, 21, 01% for roads and miscellaneous networks, 35% for equipment.”

By Abdou Latif MANSARAY / latifmansaray@lequotidien.sn

  • Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH