DAKAR: Machines stand inert at a unit of construction firm CSE in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, due to plummeting orders and unpaid government bills that have almost halved its workforce.

A year after the west African country’s new president took power promising economic and political sovereignty and sweeping reforms, his ambitious pledges have not helped the sector. A worker points to a drill and milling machine in a hangar of the Consortium of Senegalese Enterprises (CSE), involved in constructing infrastructure and public buildings. “Nothing is working,” the man in his 40s said, speaking on condition of anonymity. “It’s been difficult for 11 months. Our order book has dropped from 140 billion to 20 billion CFA francs ($231 million to $33 million) and our staff has dropped from some 3,000 to 1,700,” said trade unionist Souleymane Camara, citing figures from the CSE management.

President Bassirou Diomaye Faye took office in early April 2024 with strong popular support after pledging an end to political and economic dependence on foreign countries, notably former colonial ruler France. Trumpeting himself as a left-wing pan-Africanist, Faye’s election raised immense hope after economic turmoil and three years of acute political crisis marked by a deadly crackdown on protests.

In his 12 years in power, his predecessor Macky Sall launched major projects such as a high-speed train in Dakar, hospitals, highways and a new city — but the work was mostly done by foreign firms.

Last year, Senegal also became an oil and gas producer, but poverty and inequality remain glaring.

Hopes were high that the new government would help revive the construction sector, which contributes around six percent of GDP and employs thousands of people. But in recent months, “construction site shutdowns have impacted the industry”, building company owner Kader Ndiaye told AFP. The National Statistics Agency said construction turnover fell 2.6 percent last year compared to 2023.

Opposition parties said in a statement on March 13 that “many essential infrastructure projects that were under way have been at a standstill”. The construction industry “is no longer holding up because of the state’s unpaid bills”, Ndiaye said. Local media estimate the debt to amount to more than 300 billion CFA francs ($494 million). On top of that, a land audit ordered by the state has led to many projects being suspended or halted, especially in Dakar, a seaside city where real estate activity is frenetic.

“We share this desire for transparency but because of these halted projects, we have been forced to lay off workers,” Ndiaye said, adding that the government had this month promised it would expedite the payment of debts owed to businesses.

At the end of January, Faye said Senegal had “almost non-existent” elbow room as far as its budget and finances were concerned, accusing the previous government of falsifying indicators. The Court of Auditors last month said Senegal’s outstanding debt represented 99.67 percent of GDP — higher than the previous government had announced.

The budget deficit recalculated by the court for 2023, for example, was 12.3 percent compared to 4.9 percent announced earlier. Hard on the heels of the report, two ratings agencies, Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s, downgraded Senegal’s rating.

“No state can live beyond its means,” Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko said last month, announcing a series of cost-cutting measures, an audit of the civil service and the pooling of institutions deemed to be costly. Economist Ahmadou Aly Mbaye said that Senegal was experiencing “a very difficult situation” due to an international crisis in development financing.

“Domestic budgetary resources, foreign direct investment, official development assistance and international private borrowing, each of its components is facing difficulties,” he said.

“Our capacity to mobilize finances is becoming more and more difficult. The ratings downgrade of the country will not help. “Senegal, one of the darlings of donors, has always lived above its means,” the University of Dakar professor said. — AFP