In the Council of Ministers this Wednesday, President Faye emphasized the need to develop a National Flood Management Plan. It is clearly a matter of taking the initiative to prevent this thorny issue, which seemed to be forgotten, from polluting the debates and especially the new serenity that the Senegalese have been experiencing for some time.
Because the rains are in a few weeks. And this year, we are announcing some big ones. Which rhymes with floods, displacement of populations, desolation, difficulty in traveling and dismay for many Senegalese people. As a result, the question does not seem to be a priority until winter has set in. But once the season arrives, that’s all we’ll talk about. All other questions will be relegated to the background. Because what people cannot do is live in water.
And the problem is made thorny by the fact that in addition to Dakar, many localities in the country are impacted. No one is indifferent to a problem that has concerned the Senegalese since 2005. It is fortunate that the issue can then be discussed in the Council of Ministers to try to analyze the issue and find solutions acceptable to all, it being understood that the This problem cannot be solved with the wave of a magic wand. Because the former authorities had put in place a whole strategy, injecting a huge number of billions with a fairly consistent execution rate. We were talking about 700 billion of our francs. Which is huge.
Solutions were found in particular for certain districts such as Dalifort, Wakhinane, Cité Belle Vue, etc. But these efforts were not enough. The problem remains, given that many people live in non-adequate areas even if entire cities had been created to rehouse the victims: Plan Jaxaay, Cité Taxfekh, etc. It seems that there are, so far, many errors in previous approaches.
And this is undoubtedly what meant that billions would have been swallowed up without more convincing results. We then have a sector which will hardly escape audits. It will also be necessary to change approach and move towards more structural and more realistic solutions. But now is the time to get started. Because, with global warming, the whole world is faced with the issue of flooding which is difficult to hide. But since it is seasonal, we tend not to make it a priority. When she really is.
* By Assane Samb
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