Sénégal: Loi Domaine National Critique for Dakar's Urban Chaos

• Past Senegalese governments under Presidents Senghor and Diouf are blamed for current urban chaos and flooding in Dakar due to land mismanagement.
• Early urban projects like "Parcelles Assainies" (1970-71) and Pikine (1967 Ecochard plan) lacked adequate infrastructure and long-term vision for the capital.
• The *loi sur le domaine national* and *code du domaine de l'État* were utilized to facilitate widespread appropriation of public land, benefiting officials and private entities.
• The Diouf administration lifted protective "non aedificandi" zones and converted the Maristes green lung into residential areas, exacerbating environmental issues.
• These historical policy decisions led to inadequate rainwater evacuation and annual flooding, particularly in neighborhoods along natural drainage paths.

The current urban challenges facing Dakar, marked by widespread chaos and recurring flooding, are not merely the result of oversight but stem from a series of deliberate policy decisions made by successive Senegalese governments. While some attribute these issues to general negligence in urban planning and sanitation, a closer examination reveals that specific decision-makers actively facilitated the appropriation of public land, effectively selling off communal assets. This historical pattern of land mismanagement and a lack of long-term vision has profoundly shaped the capital's development, concentrating growth disproportionately within the Cap Vert peninsula.

This critique highlights that the true culprits behind Dakar's urban disarray are those in positions of power who, through their decisions, have undermined the common good. The consequences of these actions are evident today in the city's vulnerability to environmental challenges and the persistent struggle to manage its rapidly expanding population.

Under the administration of President Léopold Sédar Senghor, early attempts at urban development, such as the first World Bank urban project initiated in 1970-71, aimed to create "Parcelles Assainies" (sanitized plots). This ambitious project envisioned 14,000 plots, each 150 square meters, across 400 hectares in Dakar, intended to house 140,000 people at a density of ten individuals per plot. However, critics argue this plan lacked foresight, offering minimal infrastructure—only basic earthworks and a single primary road, with no secondary roads or systems for wastewater and rainwater evacuation—and failed to meet basic sociological standards for adequate family housing, inadvertently promoting cramped living conditions and urban poverty.

The city of Pikine, originally established by the colonial administration in 1952 as a relocation site, saw its population surge following the 1967 Ecochard plan, which designated it to absorb Dakar's growing demographic pressure. Despite this role, Pikine received similarly sparse infrastructure, initially featuring only three main roads: Tally Icotaf, Tally Bou Bess, and Tally Bou Mack. To further their objectives of land acquisition, particularly within the Cap Vert peninsula, Senghor's governments enacted crucial legislative frameworks, including the *loi sur le domaine national* (law on the national domain) and subsequently the *code du domaine de l'État* (state domain code), alongside numerous implementing decrees. These legal instruments were instrumental in facilitating the appropriation of significant tracts of land in areas such as Almadies, Sotrac Mermoz, and Pyrotechnique, and contributed to the extensive sale of land along the Petite Côte. The primary beneficiaries of these allocations were often finance officials, their families, friends, and both foreign and national private investors.

The subsequent administration of President Abdou Diouf continued and intensified these land management practices, often reversing earlier protective measures. The 1967 Ecochard plan, originally commissioned by the Senghor government, had designated the area stretching from Cité Bellevue to Technopôle as a "non aedificandi" zone, prohibiting any construction. However, the Diouf government lifted this crucial restriction, with urban planning authorities approving subdivision plans that converted this previously protected area into residential zones.

Even more critically, the Maristes zone, envisioned as a vital "green lung" for Dakar—comparable to Paris's Bois de Vincennes or New York's Central Park—and intended to preserve natural wetlands and a significant green belt, was similarly re-designated for housing under the second World Bank urban project during Diouf's tenure. Despite historical infrastructure investments by SCAT-URBAM, which was liquidated in 2003, the annual overflow of three lakes during the rainy season now causes significant problems, leading to recurrent flooding in neighborhoods situated along natural drainage paths due to inadequate rainwater evacuation. Throughout this period, finance ministers under Diouf continued the extensive sale of land under the guise of the *code du domaine de l'État*, even going so far as to appropriate parts of the public maritime domain for the benefit of their families, collaborators, and private investors.

The legislative framework, particularly the *loi sur le domaine national* (Law N° 64-46 of June 17, 1964) and the subsequent *code du domaine de l'État* (Law N° 76-66 of July 2, 1976), stands as a critical point of contention in Senegal's urban development narrative. These laws, coupled with various attribution decrees, enabled a systematic and widespread distribution of public land. This process disproportionately benefited a select group, including high-ranking finance officials, their relatives, associates, and both domestic and international private entities.

The critique of Senegal's national domain law centers on its implementation, which, rather than safeguarding public assets for equitable development, became a mechanism for private enrichment and speculative land deals. The long-term consequences of these historical legislative decisions are evident in Dakar's current urban landscape, characterized by inadequate infrastructure, environmental vulnerability, and persistent challenges in managing its rapidly expanding population.

Source: Original reporting via SenePlus