Celebrating Dakar

On Thursday, March 31st, the C40 Cities Finance Facility (CFF) held a hybrid handover ceremony to commemorate the fruitful cooperation with the city of Dakar. This ceremony followed Mayor Barthélémy Dias’ exciting commitment to fund the 7 billion FCFA (11 million euros) redevelopment of the stormwater retention basin in the Grand Yoff District. 

The CFF provides cities with technical assistance to develop finance-ready low carbon and climate-resilient infrastructure projects. The city of Dakar received CFF support as one of 14 projects between 2019 - 2021. The CFF funded the technical studies needed to redesign the stormwater retention basin. This project entails the development of a multi-purpose basin that improves the city’s resilience to flooding , reduces health hazards, and incorporates public amenities. Therefore, improving living conditions within the vicinity of the basin. 

Through the establishment of a comité technique, the project has fostered cooperation and coordination amongst various interested and affected stakeholders integral to the implementation of the project. The handover ceremony participants include the Deputy Mayor of Dakar and Grand Yoff, Mr. Birahim Diop (Director of the city’s Urban Planning Department), Mr. Ibrahima Guirassy (Head of Project), and representatives of the Ministry of Urban Planning, the National Office for Sanitation of Senegal (ONAS), and the neighbourhood council. The CFF was represented by Mr. Jonathan Croft (Ambassador for the British Embassy), Ms. Ingrid Simon (CFF Director), Ms. Mamani Coulibaly (CFF Senior Project Advisor) and Ms. Gifti Nadi (C40 Deputy Regional Director for Africa).

Mr. Guirassy and Mr. Diop of the Urban Planning Department expressed sincere gratitude for the close cooperation with the CFF. They mentioned that the project area Zone de Captage will benefit enormously from the project and greatly improve the quality of life of the local population living in Grand Yoff. Ms. Nadi of C40, commended the city for its commitment to the project and encouraged the city and its partners to continue with efforts to successfully implement the project.