Dakar-Plateau is an

arrondissement An arrondissement (, , ) is any of various administrative divisions of France, Belgium, Haiti, certain other Francophone countries, as well as the Netherlands. Europe France The 101 French departments are divided into 342 ''arrondissements ...

in the

Dakar Department Dakar Department is one of the Departments of Senegal, located in the Dakar Region. The department of Dakar is one of the four departments of the Dakar region, which is one of the 14 regions of Senegal. The Dakar region encompasses the city of ...

, and forms the central district of the city of

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

Overview

Senegalese arrondissements are quite different from the arrondissements of Paris, being merely local administrative structures of the central state, like the Senegalese ''départements'', and are thus more comparable to French departmental arrondissements. In 1996, a massive reform of the administrative and political divisions of Senegal was voted by the Parliament of Senegal. The commune of Dakar, whose population approached 1 million inhabitants, was deemed too large and too populous to be properly managed by a central municipality, and so on August 30, 1996 Dakar was divided into 19 ''communes d'arrondissement''. These ''communes d'arrondissement'' were given extensive powers, and are very much like regular communes. They have more powers than the arrondissements of Paris, and are more akin to the

London borough The London boroughs are the 32 local authority districts that together with the City of London make up the administrative area of Greater London; each is governed by a London borough council. The present London boroughs were all created at ...

s. The commune of Dakar was maintained above these 19 ''communes d'arrondissement'', and it coordinates the activities of the ''communes d'arrondissement'', much as

Greater London Greater may refer to: *Greatness Greatness is a concept of a state of superiority affecting a person or object in a particular place or area. Greatness can also be attributed to individuals who possess a natural ability to be better than al ...

coordinates the activities of the London boroughs. There are five communes d'arrondissement in Dakar-Plateau: Plateau/Gorée, Médina, Fass-Gueule Tapée-Colobane, Fann Point-E, and Île de Gorée. The '' sous-préfet'' of the arrondissement is in charge of controlling the activities of the ''communes d'arrondissement'' in his arrondissement. The ''commune d'arrondissement'' of Plateau/Gorée (34,626 inhabitants), in the arrondissement of Dakar-Plateau, is the historical heart of the city, and most ministries and public administrations are located there. The densest and most populous ''commune d'arrondissement'' in the arrondissement of Dakar-Plateau is Médina (136,697 inhabitants), while the smallest is the ''commune d'arrondissement'' of Île de Gorée (1,034 inhabitants). Since the administrative reforms of 1996, the ''régions'' of Senegal, which until then were merely local administrative structures of the central state, have been turned into full-fledged political units, with democratically elected regional councils, and regional presidents. They were given extensive powers, and manage economic development, transportation, or environmental protection issues at the regional level, thus coordinating the actions of the communes below them.

References

dakarville.sn
- City of Dakar official website. *

Collectivités locales de la région de Dakar. {{coord, 14, 40, 31, N, 17, 25, 13, W, type:city_source:kolossus-frwiki, display=title Arrondissements of Dakar

Overview

See also

References