(Ecofin Agency) - Is the Senegalese countryside about to make the great leap forward? This is surely the ambition of Mr Macky Sall (pictured) and his government who have just launch the Community Development Emergency Programme (PUDC). The initiative, which goal is to “meet immediate and crucial needs through a fast procedure” according to Senegal’s first citizen, is meant for the construction of 10,029 km of trail roads, 730 boreholes and water towers as well as electricity projects.

To achieve this, the PUDC will have a total budget of FCfa 422 billion of which FCfa113 billion will be released in the first stage taking place from 2015 till 2017.

Justifying the launch of the PUDC, the Senegalese president declared: “I have closely experienced poverty in its different forms; I have taken note of the constant gaps linked to the access to clean drinking water, to electricity, to basic social services and being isolated. A number of our villages cannot harness their full potential in terms of agriculture, animal farming, mining, crafts and tourism industry, industrial fishing, because they are isolated and disconnected from trading and investment networks, due to the lack of adequate infrastructure. Moreover, working conditions for women are still harsh and unacceptable. It is all that we have to address sorting out the inequalities, gaps and injustice. This is why I decided to launch the PUDC.”

The first realisations of the program will be in the Ferlo agro-pastoral zone, the authorities indicated.