2023-12-25 20:08:58
The blaze generated by the explosion of the central tanks of the Guinean Petroleum Company caused an unprecedented tragedy in the Guinean capital. The explosion of the Alpha Yaya camp powder magazine, although memorable, did not have such a devastating impact. Although this disaster did not occur during the day at a time of intense activities, the place being surrounded by the thermal power stations of Tombo, the popular districts of Tombo and Coronthie, the central house, the city of railway affairs and especially the Autonomous Port. Beyond these places teeming with people during working hours, there are numerous ministerial departments, state services and private companies. The incongruity of this promiscuity was not obvious at the time the depot was established. The choice of the site was imposed by that of the railway station and the port, two important areas of commercial transactions with a national and international vocation. It undoubtedly appears as the densification of the humanization of urban space increases. The absence of classic and methodical urban planning did not make it possible to consider in time the relocation of the depot in order to rebuild it in a more appropriate location in relation to the new urban policies. This tragedy certainly would not have happened.
Unfortunately, Conakry has completely escaped urban planning and thus fled the crown of pearl of West Africa dedicated to it by Governor Noël Ballay. From Coléah-Moussoudougou and Camayenne-Kameroun to Kagbélen and km36, the city was built staggered, in disorder, without precise allocation of the functions of urban spaces (political-admirative functions, residential functions, industrial functions, service functions). These different spaces, very distinct elsewhere, fit into each other here.
The scale of the fire and the damage raised debates which should have taken place before the event so that we were not forced to invoke, as in La Fontaine’s fable, “the doctor after the dead “. Any quarrel, any invective, any stigmatization no longer has much meaning now. It is time for reflection, for healing the bruises. We must now hope that appropriate and prompt measures will be identified and taken to protect the country from such a catastrophe. There are a host of effective and probably also efficient solutions. It is not necessary to go, for example, to Kankan to build a new hydrocarbon depot there. Kankan is far, far away. The question of relocating the hydrocarbon depot must be part of a vast strategy for better organization of urban space. Isn’t it time for the State to tackle the important issue of developing the urban coastal strip, which has been wildly occupied for a long time?
It should be noted that the Conakry tragedy sparked a great surge of national and international solidarity which helped to relieve the material and moral pain of the victims, through donations of cash, food and non-food items.
Abraham Kayoko Doré
#Conakry #urban #planning