CODATU at the Urban Mobility Seminar in Dakar – « Assises Territoriales sur la Mobilité »

Senegal’s Ministry of Infrastructure, Land Transport and Access Improvement (Ministère des Infrastructures, des Transports Terrestres et du Désenclavement, MITTD), in partnership with the country’s Mayors Association (Association des Maires du Sénégal, AMS) and the SSATP programme, organised the first Senegal Urban Mobility Seminar, in Dakar, between December 4th and 5th 2017. Following elements of the CETUD-APIX-CODATU convention, CODATU participated in the high-level discussions conducted during the event, through the participation of M. Christian PHILIP, secretary general of CODATU. Seeking to define main strategic principles of urban mobility and to propose concrete action plans towards a sustainable urban mobility, harmonious with territorial and economic growth, the seminar invited all stakeholders directed concerned by mobility prospects.

Two very intense journeys were organised to debate and discuss points of view and perspectives for urban mobility in Senegal. Proof of the importance and success of the event, more than 200 participants were present in plenary and parallel sessions, as defined by the event’s programme. Experts including Ousmane THIAM, honorary UITP and UATP president; Ibou DIOUF, SSATP programme responsible; Alain FLAUSCH, UITP secretary general; Amadou BA, CETUD’s plenary assembly president; Thierno AW, CETUD’s general director; Alassane NDIAYE, of the Université Libre de Bruxelles; Youssef DRAISS, CasaTransport general director; and Julien ALLAIRE, head of international operations at TRANSITEC, were present and provided their inputs on how to successfully develop a sustainable urban mobility in Senegalese cities.

Three main themes were discussed during the two-day event:

• (1) Sustainable urban mobility governance structures
• (2) Intermodality, mass transport services and climate change
• (3) Sustainable urban mobility financing.

General conclusions for each theme were presented during the closing session. First, pertaining to governance, it was agreed that having a strong transport authority, that is also responsible for regulatory frameworks, is particularly important in current contexts; hence, CETUD’s current and prospected role is of importance and is also a comparative advantage for Dakar. Similarly, it was accepted that there is a need to develop stronger ties between urban planning documents and transport planning documents in order to enable developing intermodality in urban systems. Finally, participants highlighted the need to couple financing plans to actions plans to best achieve objectives of sustainable mobility. All conclusions therefore point to the central role that CETUD will have in coming years to implement sustainable mobility in Dakar and, likely, in other cities in Senegal.