Bus rapid transit (Brt) is now operational in the Senegalese capital. This investment of 400 billion CFA francs aims to help with mobility in Dakar, to facilitate services on another corridor between the city centre and the suburbs. Above all, it is an achievement which will allow the large population of Dakar to have convenient means of transport with a range of quality services. The Brt crosses the municipalities of Cambérène, Patte d’Oie, Grand-Yoff, Dieuppeul-Derklé, Sicap-Liberté, Mermoz-Sacré Cœur, Grand-Dakar, Point E-Amitié, Fass-Colobane-Gueule Tapée, Médina and Dakar- Plateau. The Brt will meet the mobility needs of other populations in the suburbs of Dakar. We know, for example, how much the populations of Colobane, Yarakh, Pikine, Thiaroye, Rufisque and Bargny are satisfied with the success of the Ter. Soon, the opening of the Diamniadio-Sebikhotane-Blaise Diagne Airport section in Diass will make it possible to connect the airport to the Dakar station in perfect transport conditions. This means that this tool that is the Ter, although so much criticized at the time of its design and production, has exceeded all forecasts in terms of the number of passengers transported. Its economic and social usefulness needs no longer be demonstrated.

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The outpour of jubilation which accompanied President Sall and his delegation says a lot about the satisfaction of users. A Wolof wisdom says that the Good Lord never rewards vain words in the face of true actions. The spontaneity of the people of Dakar, who came out to thank President Macky Sall all along the Brt route, says a lot about the conscience and spirit of a silent majority who appreciate the reality of public actions and their impact on their daily experience. The gratitude of his people is the best ransom for any builder who makes patience his viaticum.

We can therefore say that the Brt will help sweep several neighbourhoods and help the Dakar metropolis breathe. There will certainly be trials and errors, some hiccups, but above all, we should raise citizen awareness everywhere of the public utility vocation that the Brt will have. Such a tool must be protected at all costs, it will end up like the African Renaissance Monument in being a constitutive mark of the identity of Dakar. We cannot, like the Ter, erase them from the postcard of Dakar. A journalist, who came from a French overseas department to take part in the latest Conference of the French-speaking Press Union in Dakar from January 9 to 11, 2024, could not hide his great joy at seeing the order and discipline that he observed in the exploitation of the Ter. He says he’d enjoy showing his compatriots that in Africa too, there are beautiful stories to tell.

Certainly, President Macky Sall will have succeeded in his action at the head of this country, to put in place transport infrastructures, which will change mobility habits in our country for good. The Regional Express Train (Ter) was criticized at all stages of its construction to end up being this very useful tool serving thousands of Dakar residents who spent long hours in traffic jams to reach their workplace in the morning, or to return home in the evening.

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Dakar Dem Dikk (Ddd) has started strengthening its fleet with the introduction of more than 300 buses. These modern and convenient buses have saved many of our compatriots from traveling in obsolete vehicles from another age, which a lack of rigor in the management and monitoring of passenger transport still keeps on our roads. With the start of the Brt, an inter-operability system will be put in place with feeder lines and a pooling of certain networks to guarantee the most offers to users and to service areas furthest from the main axes of the route.

We can be happy and satisfied to see public transport offerings that put citizens’ concerns at the centre. Not only by the democratization of access and above all by its wider diffusion. Ddd has also initiated a bold policy of interurban transport and transport towards neighboring countries with its subsidiary Afrique Dem Dikk. All this is possible once again, thanks to the latest generation of roads. Senegal will be one of few countries to be able to declare that it has more than 500 kilometers of highways and more than 2,800 kilometers of paved roads.

On another note, maritime passenger transport has developed with the Dakar-Ziguinchor service and the commissioning of a new ferry on the Dakar-Gorée link. Passenger transport by rail, which does not exist in the memories of Senegalese people under the age of thirty, has resumed service. We like to recall that on December 23, 2013, they were undoubtedly quite mocking, when I headlined in a column « Ablaay Tëli, Maky Saxaar« , to say that one of the markers of the magisterium of President Macky Sall, in addition to the infrastructures road transport, will be the rehabilitation and innovation in the rail transport sector.

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In a decade, the face of the Senegalese capital has radically changed. The architect at the helm is named Macky Sall, he has had an inclusive logic, in trying to give as many people as possible adequate means of being able to get around. This is what we expect from public policies destined for citizens.

At a time when the National Fleet, Air Senegal, is to acquire aircraft to consistently provide domestic services with reception from regional airports in Saint-Louis, Ziguinchor, Sédhiou, Cap-Skiring, Ourossogui, Kaolack or Tambacounda, Senegal confirms its option to revolutionize transport. In silence and methodically, Macky Sall will have brought his transport revolution to fruition. Senegal owes him all the thanks.

By Madiambal DIAGNE / mdiagne@lequotidien.sn

  • Translation by Ndey T. SOSSEH