REPORTING. "We are between cement and iron" : in Dakar, coastal construction sites stopped to slow down the concreteization of the peninsula
That morning, the car of the new president, Bassirou Diomaye Faye, elected at the beginning of April, and his procession crisscrossed the Dakar corniche and passed in front of the various construction sites. The president wants to check that the backhoe loaders and cranes are stopped in this protected maritime zone, while they check their authorizations. A way also to control the concrete construction which has been eating away at the coastline for around twenty years.
A suspension well received by Dakar residents, like Balla, who find themselves increasingly cut off from their coastline. “I think it’s a relevant decision, because the coastline is a common good, so we can’t sell the coastline to people we don’t even know.”
Coura, for her part, no longer recognizes the city in which she grew up, where construction sites have multiplied since the beginning of the 2000s. “Today, it’s hard to see the beach from the car, she laments. There was a time when, while driving, we had pure air, we could breathe, we could see the beach. It was nice to ride on the Dakar corniche. But today, when we ride, we are between cement and iron.”
Stopping construction was also a demand from environmental defenders. The concreteization of cliffs and beaches has direct effects on the soil, as explained by Alioune Sané, head of ecologists in the Dakar department. “When you dig, you disturb the soil. Then, you facilitate the advance of water, of the sea, what is called coastal erosion. We must avoid sand removal.” The buildings also block the winds which cool the great metropolis.
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