Saly, the Senegalese seaside resort faces the challenge of coastal erosion

Shrinking coastline at Saly-Mbour: solutions and actions

The Senegalese coastal zone is an attractive area, due to its highly diversified ecosystems and the development of socio-economic activities. At Saly-Mbour, the coastline is shrinking rapidly, threatening hotel activities and infrastructure, second homes and the village of Saly Coulang.

This trend became noticeable with the development of the tourist resort in the 1980s, which resulted in a sharp increase in land use, particularly along the shoreline. To protect the hotels, structures were often built in an uncontrolled manner by the hoteliers.

Egis's mission is divided into three phases:

Phase 1: this corresponds to the completion of the preliminary design and detailed design studies, and the provision of the works tender dossier.
Phase 2: this consists of controlling, supervising and monitoring the execution of the works.
Phase 3: training and strengthening of the actors

Maritime modelling and sustainable coastal protection strategy

Our mission is an application of natural risk management projects in urban areas in the context of climate change: understanding the issues, designing maritime modelling tools, developing a sustainable, acceptable and viable coastal protection strategy, consulting with companies and assisting with the awarding of works contracts, monitoring the works until completion.

Phase 1 includes the creation of digital models of wave propagation, the impact of storms on the coastal fringe and the evolution of the coastline, as well as physical models in wave channels to verify the stability of the rockfill structures, designed with a lowered crest to meet landscape constraints. Additional geophysical investigations were also carried out to research and characterise a sand deposit at sea.

The solutions were conceived and designed in relation to climate change and local socio-cultural issues to arrive at a virtuous, fully adapted and sustainable solution, in line with our commitments to eco-design.

Protecting 5 km of coastline with an innovative hybrid solution

The chosen solution aims to protect around 5 km of coastline and consists of a hybrid solution, involving a massive sand recharge (approx. 600,000 m³), maintained by rockfill structures (10 detached breakwaters, 6 groynes, including 3 plunging groynes and 3 T-shaped groynes).

In the absence of satisfactory land-based sand deposits (very fine sand and high human risk linked to the potential for intense lorry traffic), the project has turned to the extraction of coarse sand at sea for replenishment. To avoid causing coastal erosion, the extraction site is located offshore (16 km). Being close to numerous small-scale fishing areas, and eight kilometres from a Marine Protected Area (MPA), the Joal-Fadiouth Marine Park, special support for fishing communities, MPA stakeholders and managers was provided on the sidelines of the project, in conjunction with the environmental and social impact study, with a view to guaranteeing safety at sea, compensating for the loss of productivity during the works, and improve working conditions afterwards.

Egis remained on site throughout the duration of the work to ensure control, supervision and monitoring of the execution. A training programme for local and institutional actors was also developed and delivered on the theme of the operation and maintenance of the facilities, which is essential to guarantee the sustainability of the facilities and the socio-economic issues thus protected.

Saly, the Senegalese seaside resort faces the challenge of coastal erosion.

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Shrinking coastline at Saly-Mbour: solutions and actions

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Maritime modelling and sustainable coastal protection strategy

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Protecting 5 km of coastline with an innovative hybrid solution

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