Thiès, April 19 (APS) – Traders and occupants of the Thiès central market interviewed by the APS appreciated the decluttering operation of this high street.trading center of the rail city, launched Thursday by the town hall of the commune of Thiès Nord in collaboration with the administrative authorities of the Thiès region.
Nearly 120 agents, including young people recruited by the Thiès Nord town hall, local security agents (ASP), volunteers from the “Xëyu ndaw gni” program assigned to the living environment, and the police were mobilized for the needs of this decluttering operation.
This involves identifying and dismantling tables with makeshift umbrellas or other canteens erected on market roads. The tables, luggage and other waste are then loaded onto trucks. A SONAGED truck then comes to collect the waste left on site.
A police cordon watches over the progress of the operations supervised by the sub-prefect of Thiès Nord and officials from the Thiès Nord town hall.
A vegetable seller found on the premises was pleased that they were allowed to sell early in the morning before the decluttering activities began. “They allowed some (traders) to settle in and others to leave,” she testifies.
She specifies that she does not sell on the road, but on the sidewalk. “After the numerous operations that had been carried out in the past, I was always allowed to return to continue my business,” she said.
Makhtar Diop, a displaced clothing merchant, still appreciates the measure although he remains perplexed about the possible follow-up that will be reserved for the work already carried out. “Even if the measure falls on us, we must recognize that it is a good thing,” he said.
“People must move easily, taxi drivers must be able to take customers on board easily, but what I have noticed since I started working in this market in 2001 is that every time Once we free people from the paths of the market, things get worse afterwards,” lamented Makhtar Diop.
“In the long run, people finally got used to the multiple decluttering, trivializing any new operation,” he continues, urging that the market be organized so that everyone can move around without hindrance.
For him, the “rickshaws”, these small carts pushed by men to transport luggage, constitute the main problem. These two-wheeled, human-pulled carts obstruct all access routes, he denounced, calling for the market to be maintained in this current state.
Papa Diabel Pouye, a computer scientist, welcomes this “formidable” initiative, intended to put an end to the “disorder” which reigned in this market. He maintains that “we must resolve the problem once and for all and perpetuate” the situation. Merchants had occupied the market roads to the point of setting up on the main asphalt road, he was indignant, not without calling for regular monitoring of such an operation.
Boubacar Sylla, a “Jakarta” motorcycle taxi driver, is already reveling in the impact of the operation. ”The way is clear, traffic is flowing freely at the moment. We move freely, we no longer have to be careful not to hit people on the road,” he exults, noting that today, there is no need to slalom on the road to avoid hitting people.
The congestion of the market was the cause of traffic jams all day long in this Mecca of commerce, a necessary crossing point between the Diakhao district and the city center. When students from the many schools located in the surrounding area drop off, the situation worsens. Which wastes a lot of time for everyone, especially passers-by.
“For follow-up, I think that this time, it will be different, because the head of departmental security has made his arrangements,” assured the deputy mayor, noting that all deployed personnel will ensure that the roads are kept clear. market circulation.
The town hall has released a lot of logistical resources for this operation, said the sub-prefect of Thiès Nord, Abdoul Sy, who supervised the operation jointly with officials from the town hall. She has also recruited around sixty young people, who in collaboration with the sixty elements deployed by the “Xëyu ndaw gni” Program, will ensure monitoring, especially at the strategic points of the market.
In their mission to preserve security and the movement of people and goods, the authorities are “obligated” each time these principles are threatened, to carry out this type of operation, said Mr. Sy.
Need for promotion of citizenship
“The ideal is to see no one on the road, which is made for vehicles, and the sidewalks for pedestrians,” he recalled, emphasizing the danger represented by this occupation of the road by the merchands.
“The Thiès market is suffering from overflow,” he analyzes. Sized for a given population, it is now overwhelmed, with the expansion of the city, and the arrival of new traders, some of whom come from surrounding villages or other departments.
Calling for awareness among populations of the need to respect public roads, he believes that “it is a behavioral problem that we have at this level”.
The civil administrator is convinced that work to promote citizenship is necessary and that the press has a role to play.
Regarding the grievances presented by the aprons who are the most affected by this measure and who deplore the fact that they are displaced before a site is found to accommodate them, the sub-prefect noted that meetings and discussions had previously been carried out by the administrative and territorial authorities, with the latter.
The idea was, according to Abdoul Sy, to adopt a participatory approach, as part of this public health action.
“We were in an emergency, we could no longer wait, given the incessant calls from users”, motorists, traders, housewives, etc., said Mouhamadou Diakhaté, deputy mayor of Thiès Nord. “The town hall is going out of its way to find them a resettlement site, and within a while solutions will be found to allow them to continue their activities,” he reassures.
According to Abdoul Sy, the Nguinth fish market, whose work is “very advanced”, could receive some of them and thus contribute to decongesting the central market of Thiès.
The other possible solution is the town hall’s project to build a R+3 shopping center, as part of the public-private partnership, he suggested.
ADI/ASB/AB
