SN HLM: Former general manager Bassirou Kébé details his assessment

At a press conference yesterday, Thursday March 26, in Dakar, the outgoing general director of Sn Hlm, Bassirou Kébé, presented an exhaustive assessment of his management on the eve of his handover. Between financial recovery, relaunch of housing production and denunciation of fraudulent practices, he engaged in an exercise in “transparency” marked by strong figures and serious accusations.

The outgoing general director of Sn Hlm took part in a clarification session on the eve of his handover. “This exercise cannot be seen as a simple administrative assessment,” Bassirou Kébé insisted yesterday, Thursday March 26, to the press. In a process that he describes as “accountability”, the former CEO of Sn Hlm returned, with supporting figures, to the conditions of his taking office and the results obtained in 22 months. When he arrived at the head of the company on May 16, 2024, he found, he said, “an almost catastrophic situation”. According to him, “over 7 years, Sn Hlm has only produced 365 housing units”, or “a ratio of 52 buildings per year”, illustrating, according to him, “a virtual paralysis”.

Added to this structural weakness, he said, was an alarming financial situation. “We went into debt without making structuring and profitable investments,” denounced Mr. Kébé, specifying that he had to “resort to bank overdrafts to pay salaries in the first fortnight” of taking office. He also mentioned “a tax adjustment of 9 billion FCfa” and projects “all at a standstill”, with “unpaid suppliers”. Even more serious, the outgoing CEO affirmed that “the money was not invested for the right purpose” and “was misappropriated”. He also indicated that the contribution accounts paid by customers were used for other purposes, with “a negative current account situation exceeding almost 100 million FCfa”.

Faced with this observation, Bassirou Kébé says he has initiated a Strategic Development Plan (PSD 2025-2029) to turn around the company. He cited the revival of production, institutional repositioning and modernization of management. On the institutional side, he insisted on the need to restore confidence. “We had to reestablish trust with customers,” he stressed, particularly through digitalization. “When we arrived, there was not even a site worthy of the name,” he lamented, adding that “Senegalese from the diaspora had injected their money without any feedback.” On the financial level, Mr. Kébé put forward consolidation measures. “We have reduced the debt by almost 2 billion FCFA, or 15.5%,” he said. Bassirou Kébé also mentioned the restructuring of several loans, including a monthly repayment reduced from “171 to 42 million FCfa”, and another of “193 million FCfa whose maturity was postponed”.

Relaunch of structuring projects

The former general director of Sn Hlm returned yesterday, Thursday March 26, during a press conference, to the adjustments made within the company. These have made it possible, according to him, to relaunch structuring projects, particularly at Bambilor. “It is a project worth 13 billion FCFA in turnover,” he said, specifying that an envelope of “1.150 billion FCFA has already been injected into the coffers”. Bassirou Kébé defended the choice of buyer credit by explaining that “the bank finances the customer directly according to their income”, in a context where “the Sn Hlm no longer had the means to do leasing”.

He also admitted to having left a lot of money in the Sn Hlm coffers. “It was the very day of my dismissal that I had to make it happen. In fact, it is a total of 40 billion FCfa, including 13 billion FCfa for the first phase,” he said. On production, the ambitions displayed are high. “In 2026, we will have 2,284 housing units, including 921 housing units and more than 1,000 serviced plots,” announced Mr. Kébé, estimating that such a level “has never been reached since 2009.” He also mentioned several projects in progress or finalized, including “500 housing units in Sébikotane for the diaspora”, “90 housing units in Kaolack”, “32 in Tambacounda” and “34 in Saint-Louis already delivered”. Internally, the outgoing general director of Sn Hlm spoke of reforms aimed at improving governance.

Daouda DIOUF