Thiès: Minister Moussa Bala Fofana announces the resumption of restructuring work on Mbour 4

After a long period of suspension of all activity at Mbour 4, restructuring work on the site has resumed, in accordance with the directives of the President of the Republic given in 2024. The announcement was made by the Minister of Urban Planning, Territorial Communities and Regional Planning, Moussa Bala Fofana, during a technical visit carried out this Friday, January 16, in the presence of the administrative and territorial authorities of Thiès.

Visiting the Mbour 4 site, the minister recalled the instructions of the Head of State, formulated during his visit in 2024, aimed at correcting the social injustices that have marked this issue. In this context, Moussa Bala Fofana asked the competent authorities to open a three-month complaints period to allow any injured person, with proof of ownership, to be identified and resettled.

The minister also informed that, during the work suspension phase, significant investigation, inspection and analysis work was carried out. This focused in particular on the nature of the soil, water movements, the Maastrichtian, green areas as well as areas suitable for housing. According to him, all these studies were carried out as part of a program of urban restructuring and development of new towns, respecting the principles of town planning, living environment and sustainable development.

For Moussa Bala Fofana, this project is of capital importance for Senegal, especially since the Dakar–Thiès axis constitutes a strategic corridor. Its planning must therefore be successful in order to fully exploit its potential, while avoiding major risks such as flooding, loss of forest cover, obstruction of groundwater recharge zones, without forgetting the issues linked to urban furniture.

According to the minister, all of this technical and scientific work, already completed, now makes it possible to announce the effective start of the restructuring of Mbour 4. This visit was also an opportunity to hold technical meetings with the decentralized State services, with a view to facilitating the identification of requests and the resettlement of the populations concerned, for a peaceful living environment.

The objective, he specified, is to complete the restructuring of Mbour 4 at the latest by the end of 2026, in order to initiate the development of the new city. He insisted on the need for precise and rigorous development of this area located between Thiès and Dakar, emphasizing that it is not only a question of habitat issues, but also of mining issues, infrastructure and impacts on populations.

The minister recalled that the country’s groundwater recharges in this area, hence the importance of identifying the most suitable locations for infrastructure, equipment, grazing areas, water flow routes and the preservation of classified forests. He stressed that if Mbour 4 is habitable, the future new city still requires additional work.

On this subject, Moussa Bala Fofana instructed all the stakeholders concerned to accelerate the process in order to definitively finalize the restructuring of Mbour 4 and then devote themselves to the project of the new city. He also announced that, as part of the National Access to Housing Program, Senegalese people will be able to become owners through the rental-purchase mechanism, as an alternative to the granting of land for residential use. To this end, a Chinese partner would already be willing to build 150 housing units, subject to the availability of land.

The representatives of the populations, through the collective of those impacted, as well as the mayors of Thiès Ouest, the City of Thiès and Fandène, in the presence of MP Amadou Dia, were all delighted with this technical visit by the minister. They expressed their full availability to support the restructuring process of Mbour 4.