Published on : 01/06/2022 – 01:29
A ceremony chaired by The Head of State, Macky Sall presided over the ceremony of the laying of the first stone on Tuesday of the country’s first seawater desalination plant, in Dakar. Located in the Ouakam district, this plant should make it possible to meet the growing demand for water in the capital and its agglomeration. But the project also raises concerns.
With our correspondent in Dakar, Charlotte Idrac
Facing the monument of the African Renaissance, it is on the southern flank of one of the two volcanic hills of Mamelles that the future desalination plant is to emerge. The pumping station and the pipes will be installed below, on the beach.
An investment of approximately 137 billion CFA francs – the equivalent of 210 million euros – financed by a loan from JICA, Japanese cooperation, and implemented by SONES, Senegal’s national water company. With an initial production capacity of 50,000 m3 per day, the plant should put an end to chronic shortages and secure the water supply.
A project “ complex and unique ” and an “ major step in the realization of the Emerging Senegal Plan “, according to President Macky Sall. A project that is not unanimous: local residents, beach attendants or fishermen denounce a risk for the environment, because the salt sucked up will then be discharged into the sea. And the SOS Littoral association recalls that the site of the Mamelles lighthouse is a “ historical patrimony ».
But after years of debates and delays, the site is officially launched. Commissioning of the plant is scheduled for 2025.
► To read and listen: Senegal: the desalination plant planned on the Dakar coast continues to cause controversy