Sanitized plots (Dakar): This land offered to the State by the Caliph Baye Seydi Thiaw Laye
Created in 1974 to relieve congestion in the city center of Dakar and its surroundings overwhelmed by the massive rural exodus, the space housing the Parcelles Assainies was offered to the State by the third Caliph of Seydina Limamoulaye, Baye Seydi Thiaw Laye. The site, which was only a sand dune, has become one of the largest settlements in the capital.
Born from the decision of the State of Senegal, in conjunction with the World Bank (WB), to relieve congestion in the city center of Dakar and its surroundings, the Parcelles Assainies were created in 1974. Previously, the site was only a desert of dunes located between Cambérène and Yoff.
“Without the generosity of the Layène community, this beating heart of Dakar would not exist,” explains Oumar Coulibaly, district delegate of Unit 21 of Parcelles Assainies.
Giving a historical reminder, Seydina Issa Laye Diop, host and representative of the Caliph General of Layènes at Parcelles Assainies, indicates that at the time, Dakar was mainly concentrated between the Medina, Gueule Tapée, Fass and Grand-Dakar.
President Léopold Sédar Senghor requested the third Caliph of Seydina Limamou Laye, Baye Seydi Thiaw Laye, around 1973, to contain the flow of rural exodus. To comply with the leitmotif of his grandfather Seydina Limamou Laye who constantly urged the people of Dakar to be hospitable towards rural populations, the Caliph responded favorably to the State’s request.
“He graciously granted 364 hectares to the State, without asking for a single franc or the slightest plot in return. This area of more than three million square meters today constitutes units 1 to 26 of the Parcelles Assainies,” appreciates Seydina Issa Laye Diop.
However, the former banker specifies that the original name, which remains the “Parcels Assainies de Cambérène”, has disappeared from official and media discourse in favor of a more generic name.
Still, according to his explanations, before urbanization, the sector was “so isolated and wild that those who worked there, like ministers Amadou Clédor Sall and Mamadou Diop, were nicknamed the “governors of the desert””.
Today he is delighted that “what was only an expanse of sand” has become “a populous and dynamic city”. Better, he says, “with rampant urbanization, a square meter today sells for 250,000 FCfa or more. If we reevaluated this donation today, we would be talking about a value exceeding 1,000 billion FCfa. It is a colossal contribution that the Layène community has made for the development of the capital.”
Consequently, he believes that the State must return the favor to the Layène community, given “the striking contrast” between the Parcelles Assainies and surrounding cities such as Nord Foire or the Léopold Sédar Senghor international airport.
He notes that these cities are connected to the modern sanitation network, while Yoff and Cambérène are still awaiting complete servicing.
“It is paradoxical that in the heart of Dakar, these religious centers are still dependent on precarious evacuation systems while it is these same lands that have allowed the expansion of the city,” insists our interlocutor, thus pleading the modernization of these neighborhoods.
Fatou SY
