Back to the facts
An agreement dating from 2004 linked the Senegalese state to SAPCO, extending the latter’s missions to the development of seaside resorts. In accordance with this agreement, the creation of a station committee was compulsory to ensure the management and operation of each site. This was the case from 2004 to 2012, a period coinciding with the termination of the SAPCO lease by the State. This committee, chaired by SAPCO and made up of representatives of hotels, residences and businessesdefined an annual budget and the contributions of each stakeholder.
The termination of the lease in 2012 led to the de facto dissolution of the committee and the cessation of the contributions of the actors, plunging SAPCO into financial difficulties exacerbated by the redirection of state fees to the tax services of Mbour.
However, to the amazement of the actors of the station of Saly, the operating director summoned a meeting in February 2025 to announce the “reactivation” of the committee and the appointment of the company Infotours, managed by Boly Guèyeand controversial character Known locally for its role in the coordination of activities in the seaside resort during the COVID-19. According to SAPCO the mission infoto would “lead the dialogue necessary for the establishment and the signing of the concession contracts of activities”.
During this meeting, Mr. Guèye would have unilaterally announced a financial contribution by house, based on a hypothetical possibility of rental, according to testimonies of actors present. The collective of condominium trustees vainly recalled the need to comply with l’article 33 of the Convention, which stipulates that Contributions cannot be set before the establishment of governance bodies, the establishment of a provisional budget and the definition of distribution keys.
Mr. Guèye allegedly claimed to benefit from the support of the State, evoking the possibility of mobilizing the tourist police and the state police to achieve his objectives, arousing fears about his motivations. Teams, accompanied by the operating management of Saly and the police, were said to have been seen performing tours in the residences, sowing concern among the occupants.
This initiative intervenes in a context already tense by the persistence of a double taxation on household waste, not resolved for more than a year. Local actors deplore a deterioration in the quality of life in Saly, marked by unsanitary conditions and a lack of public lighting, despite the regular payment of municipal taxes. This alarming situation would push many residents to leave Saly, as evidenced by a significant increase in real estate and vehicles put up for sale.
Suspicions of illegal maneuver and short-circuiting procedures
According to actors from the station contacted by Dakaracu, Mr. Guèye, without any legitimacy within the station, would have misleaded the new DG, Serigne Mamadou Mboup, who would have short-circuited the procedures established to impose infotours in all illegality. Shops would be threatened with closure, residents would suffer censuses deemed unnecessary, and the trustees expressing their disagreement would be qualified as “non-patriots”. A monthly contribution would be imposed on businesses, however up to date with their obligations to the municipality and the tax administration.
The version of infotours and SAPCO
Joined by phone, Mr. Boly Guèye justified the intervention infoto By the past financial difficulties of SAPCO, explaining that the new CEO would be based on the agreement to relaunch activities. He said that the contract with infotours dates from January 2025 and that the agreement would allow SAPCO to collaborate with any structure for the concession of activities.
For his part, the director general of SAPCO, Serigne Mamadou Mboupsaid this May 1, 2025 before the workers of the company Agir “legally with regard to activity concessions, and in perfect phase with the authorities“.
Does the convention contradict current actions?
However, a careful reading of article 33 of the General Convention between the State and the SAPCO of 2013, consulted by Dakaracu, seems to contradict the affirmations of the leaders of SAPCO and infoters.
Article 33 clearly stipulates the creation of a “station committee chaired by the director general of SAPCO where will be represented, in addition to the SAPCO-Sénégal, all the promoters or operators interested directly or indirectly at the station, the technical services of the State and the local authorities.” He specifies that this committee “will bear the expenses of animation, maintenance, operation and advertising of the station” by taking a “compulsory contribution […] On the turnover of tourist operators in accordance with all partners. “The amount of this subscription must be set annually by the” station management committee. ”
-Article 33 of the General Convention between the State and the SAPCO of 2013, entitled “Management of stations”, stipulates the following points:
SAPCO-Senegal is responsible on behalf of the State to ensure the promotion of investments and the management of developed tourist zones. By promotion, we hear all the actions carried out in Senegal or abroad to promote these areas and retain the maximum of promoters.
By management, we mean the proper functioning of equipment, the maintenance of installations and plantations, public services arising from the existence of a large community (cleaning, public lighting, sanitation, garbage treatment, etc.).
For these promotional and management tasks, a station committee chaired by the director general of SAPCO will be created in each station where the SAPCO-Sénégal will be represented, all the promoters or operators interested directly or indirectly at the station, the state technical services and local authorities. This committee will assist SAPCO-Sénégal in management tasks and may even be entrusted with precise missions by SAPCO Senegal.
These promotion and management tasks are devolved to the station committee which is chaired by SAPCO-Sénégal and which necessarily brings together all promoters or operators established in the station, as well as the technical services of the State and the local community.
The station committee will support the animation, maintenance, operation and advertising expenses of the station. He will face these expenses by taking a compulsory contribution of sufficient amount on the turnover of tourist operators in accordance with all partners.
The amount of this contribution, the principle of which will be contractually founded in acts between SAPCO-Sénégal on the one hand, promoters and managers on the other hand, will be fixed annually according to a key to distribution of charges defined by the station’s management committee.
The president may continue the budget recovery by any legal means. The refusal to fulfill its obligations for a member explains it to the termination of its contract of concession of activities on the tourist stations (s).
Whatever the type of occupation title, any operator established in a tourist resort must have a concession of activity issued by SAPCO-Senegal.
Divergent interpretations and acts deemed abusive
However, local actors underline several illegality points: the agreement speaks of “promoters” and “operators”, terms which, in the spirit of the text, would designate hotels, businesses and residences represented by their trustees, and not directly the individual owners. Direct involvement of tourist police In the census of villas within private residences is also perceived as an abuse of power, in the absence of a court decision.
Dakaractu obtained a copy of the distribution of the budget of the Saly Station Committee for past years. This document proves that SAPCO cannot ask the owners of villas to pay charges for the station committee and that this is the responsibility of the trustees. An additional proof of the errors of the new CEO of SAPCO.
Telephone joints by Dakaracturesidence managers in Saly said: “Currently, in the resort, we have the impression of being permanently racket. Already, we pay taxes normally, we pay taxes on household waste while the station is strewn with garbage and animals in rambling. Moreover, Our trustees pay monthly taxes to SAPCO And we are not satisfied with the services offered. And now we are given this story of SAPCO contract with infotours which is downright illegal. »
“What is the tourist police doing in our residences?” There was no offenses or crime in our homes, these are private property. Tourist police must not participate in actions without legal basis, There are too many abuses here “, Plague a residence manager.
Currently, several owners have gathered for bring the case to court against the CEO of SAPCO for illegal acts and abuse of power.
