At a time when people are increasingly criticizing the multinational’s operations in Ngomène, Dangote Cement is launching a project to plant 5,000 trees on its mining sites in this locality in western Senegal. The operation aims to restore land degraded by the exploitation of quarries for cement production. The multinational company plans to create a 1.2 km long vegetation barrier. The company has chosen to plant filaos, a tree species that adapts to all types of soil and is tolerant to salt.
This operation follows on from another campaign that resulted in the planting of 1,500 trees. The restoration of the Ngomène mining sites is part of the Nigerian multinational’s corporate social responsibility (CSR). “We are all aware of the importance of plants in the balance of ecosystems and in the protection of the environment, but also in the fight against climate change. The interview will be carried out through the recruitment of agents in the surrounding villages, but also through watering with existing logistics,” says Layti Ndiaye, head of mining, geology and sustainable development at Dangote Cement Senegal.
According to this manager, quoted by our colleagues in Dakar Actu, the project will reduce the impact of dust emissions in the communities living near the plant. For months they have been complaining about the situation and accusing Dangote Cement of pollution. This pollution has a direct impact on the lifestyles of the people living near the mines and cement plant.
“The herds no longer have pastures or ponds to drink from. The vegetables we grow here in the dry season are destroyed because they are covered with dust from the factory. Quarries are dug everywhere. All the stockbreeders and farmers in the area are complaining about this situation,” said Malick Guèye, the head of the commission in charge of agriculture and stockbreeding in the commune of Keur Moussa, to which the village of Ngomène belongs, more than a year ago.
Jean Marie Takouleu