Dakar — Senegal’s market infrastructure is in urgent need of transformation, warned Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko during a recent government council meeting. The current state of commercial facilities, he noted, suffers from severe dilapidation and presents significant security risks that demand immediate structural solutions.
Between 2013 and 2024 alone, 53 markets across the country have been ravaged by fires, underscoring the pressing need for modernization. The assessment conducted by the Prime Minister’s team revealed critical challenges spanning technical, infrastructural, organizational, environmental, and health domains.
The existing Programme de modernisation et de gestion des marchés (PROMOGEM) has made progress, but Sonko emphasized the necessity for a more robust framework. The current strategic plan for 2025–2029 outlines ambitious goals: restructuring all 528 existing markets and constructing 67 new modern market facilities nationwide.
To achieve these objectives, the Prime Minister proposed a strategic institutional overhaul of PROMOGEM. The reform aims to transform it into an autonomous administrative and financial entity, with a four-year budget allocation of 57.5 billion CFA francs from the national public investment plan.
Key recommendations include enhancing the programme’s operational agility, improving budgetary efficiency, and expanding its capacity to attract innovative financing sources. Sonko also urged relevant ministers—Industry and Commerce, as well as Finance and Budget—to spearhead the development of a nationwide network of modern markets.
Additionally, the Prime Minister stressed the importance of rigorous management of these market facilities, assigning responsibility to local governments and the national private sector to ensure sustainable operations and maintenance.