The Senegalese government presented a urban renewal and housing programme on Thursday, 22 October, in Dakar, valued at nearly 3,000 billion CFA francs. Minister of Urban Planning, Local Authorities and Regional Planning Moussa Bala Fofana outlined its main components at the SENHABITAT trade fair.
For the first operations, Moussa Bala Fofana announced 24.6 billion CFA francs mobilised for fourteen urgent reconstruction and rehousing sites in the Dakar region.
The programme aims to build 45,000 homes in restructuring zones. The government intends thereby to expand the formal housing supply while redeveloping neighbourhoods exposed to congestion, precarious housing and insufficient access to urban services.
The scheme brings together a portfolio of new town projects valued at more than 1,875 billion CFA francs and an urban restructuring component of 1,100 billion CFA francs spread over fifteen years. This second strand is to cover 300 hectares in Dakar, Pikine, Guédiawaye, Thiès and Saint-Louis, according to figures released by the minister.
The minister did not detail the breakdown of public, private and external financing required for the programme as a whole.
The plan forms part of the Senegal 2050 strategy, which envisages developing new urban hubs and better distributing economic activity away from the most saturated areas.