Mboro, a fractal and a city-metaphor of the world
The Mayor of Mboro, Mr Abdallah Tall, speaking at the Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC) at the OECD
The mayor of Mboro, Mr. Abdallah Tall, spoke at a strategic meeting of the Sahel and West Africa Club (SWAC-OECD) in 2022. During this intervention, made possible by Fatoumata Sissi Ngom, the mayor shed light on Mboro’s economic and energetic potential, and also on the city’s challenges, in terms of environmental degradation due to extractive industries, urbanism, lack of infrastructure and inability to mobilize external sources of funding.
To really grasp the economic face of Mboro, one first needs to understand its history, intimately linked to that of the ICS, from the time of the explorers to our present days.
In the following section, you'll learn more about the fabulous history of Mboro and its many facets.
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The fruit of a new kind of encounter and a former French colonial station
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Industrial revolution and emergence of inequalities
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Agricultural granary, important mining deposit
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Metaphor and fractal of world history, including of historical toxic masculinity
A film of a New Kind. Mboro: French colonisation, the Dakar - Saint-Louis railway, vegetables, pirogues and mines
Mboro - a Journey through time
Once upon a time: the French explorers the Dakar - Saint-Louis railroad, mining et agricultural station
Although it existed since the 15th century, Mboro was discovered in 1862 by the French colonial administration, which saw in the town an extraordinary potential for agriculture. That same year, the Mission d'Aménagement du Sénégal conducted studies which established the richness and fertility of its soil. An agricultural station was created to produce goods mainly for the French Metropole. In 1880, at the same time, H. Hubert, a French geologist, was in charge of building the railroad linking Dakar to Saint-Louis. He discovered a treasure in the subsoil of the then Mboro area, more precisely at Taïba: lime phosphate and phosphoric anhydride. However, the secret was well kept, and only divulged after the First World War. In 1937, Mr. Hubert's successor, Mr. Seyer, was actively looking for a company in France that might be interested in exploiting the subsoil of Mboro. During the Second World War, the Pechiney company led a geological mission from Oran to Dakar via the Sahara. In 1949, the presence of a phosphate deposit at Taïba was confirmed by the Bureau minier de la France d'outre-mer, BUMIFON. In 1953, the first excavation was carried out, and the Compagnie sénégalaise des Phosphates de Taïba (CSPT), the "Mines", was officially created in 1957. In 1960, the very first container of phosphates was shipped to Japan. The 1980s marked a significant turning point: Industries Chimiques du Sénégal (ICS) was created in 1984 to produce phosphoric acid.
Industrial and agricultural revolution in Mboro, and their consequences
The industrial and agricultural revolution in Mboro had huge consequences. It changed the face of this little town. In response to the need for manpower for agricultural production and mining, incentives were put in place to settle the town. In addition to the construction of the first working-class neighborhoods (Lassere, Diamaguène), a large, upscale private neighborhood was created for French, European, Senegalese and African executives and engineers working at ICS: the Cités ICS-Mbaye-Mbaye. An industrial revolution took place in Mboro and was brought about by Westerners. It led to a demographic explosion, economic growth, and inequalities – rich, less rich, poor, less poor. In 1996, Acide and Mines merged and took the common name of ICS. In 1999, a project to double the production and capacity was launched, led by Alexandre Ngom. The doubling project came to fruition in 2001, followed by recapitalizations with IFFCO in 2008 and Indorama in 2014. The Senegalese government is a minority shareholder today. However, it had played a pivotal role in shaping the industry's future. Today, ICS has a mining concession covering an area of 300 km2 around Mboro, including. A train links the mining site to the port of Dakar to transport acid and sulfide. It also spearheads the production of fertilizers at its plant in Mbao, Dakar. This contributes to the agricultural prosperity of the country, Africa, and the whole world.
