Following the announcement of the suspension of work on the Corniche-Ouest and the Filaos Bande, among other localities targeted by the authorities, workers and developers are in a fragile state of anticipation, anxious about the future.

Have the authorities bowed to pressure from the “livers”? Since the start of the new administration, videos of supposedly privately-owned and real estate investors have been making the rounds on the web. Since Friday, President Bassirou Diomaye Faye has taken the decision to halt all construction on the Dakar Corniche and other areas of the country. And it’s to check the documents that allow these owners of luxury hotels, buildings and villas to build. If the Corniche-Ouest starts at Cap Manuel, it extends over Terrou-bi, the Divinity Mosque, the King Fahd Palace hotel, the Bceao beach and the Diamalaye beach, the Corniche-Est stretches from Cap Manuel to the beach along the Rufisque Highway, passing by the French Embassy, the Presidential Palace and the Port. The Filaos Bande stretches from the Malibu area to Malika, via the Gadaye traffic circle.

On site, workers are at the foot of the walls. The day after the measure was announced, the masons are present, manoeuvring on the various building sites where residential buildings and public infrastructures such as the new Justice Palace in Pikine-Guédiawaye, nestled on Vdn 3, are sprouting up, where the street lamps are being installed by technicians. “It’s a well-located site and the regulatory 100 m distance is well respected. It was at the request of the goorgoorlous, fathers of families living in the 5 communes of Guédiawaye.  Some councillors had also asked for the strip to be downgraded, especially as there were always assaults and murders. Even the surrounding houses were in a state of total insecurity. This site belongs to us, it’s our heritage. Most of the vulnerable people own plots of land here on the Vdn 3 coastline. We mustn’t forget that the city is growing and that Guédiawaye is overflowing with people,” said an elderly Assane Diop, who was found on the site.

Suspension of Property and Land Procedures: Victims in a Dire State

Opinions on the declassification of this strip of filaos are divided. “What we’re tired of is that there are disgruntled activists who aren’t beneficiaries, who are looking to settle scores with this new regime. Because they know that the current regime is sensitive to problems and wants to please everyone. This is not possible. And we dare to believe that the State will proceed cautiously with this problem. It’s unfair to want to take away a piece of property and give it to someone else, because there are a lot of people making statements about the coastline who don’t even know what the issue is,” says Pape Hann, found on the Gadaye site.  According to him, “this coastline needs to be brought to life, because it extends all the way to Saint-Louis. Infrastructures are planned. It needs to be enlivened and lit up. Unfortunately, there are activists who want to demonize everything by demanding that the occupation of the Vdn 3 coastline be cancelled. What nastiness”.

It should be noted that this entire area is part of the Detailed Urbanism (Pud) program, approved and made enforceable by a decree issued by the former head of state, Macky Sall, which was allocated an 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.”

On site, a few filaos dance in the wind. While the workers carry on with their chores. In Malika, the situation is the same, with land occupation dividing the various parties. The commune’s youth, through a local association, are demanding 1,500 plots of land from the State. In addition to demanding that the decree allocating the area to certain personalities be annulled, they are asking President Faye to grant these plots for use… on the same site. “We’re not asking you to destroy everything that’s being done here with the Pud program. It’s not serious for people to do that. But we want our land back because it’s occupied by people who don’t even live in the locality and who benefit hectares. Everyone has the right to a plot of land. The state should make it easier for local people to get a plot,” explains Bachir Paye, owner of a Café Touba bar on Malika beach.

By Abdou Latif MANSARAY

  • Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH