Senegalese to head international transport body

[John Ashworth]

SÉNÉGAL’S THIAM TO HEAD UITP

Railways Africa On November 1, 2011 In Senegal

On 21 October, the executive board of the International Association of Public Transport (UITP) confirmed Ousmane Thiam of Sénégal as its first African president. He takes over from Alain Flausch, who is to succeed Hans Rat as UITP secretary-general early in 2012.

A civil engineer holding a PhD in transport economics, Thiam has been president of the Conseil Exécutif des Transports urbains de Dakar (CETUD), Sénégal, since 1997. In 2007, he was elected president of the African Association of Public Transport (UATP), acting as the African Division of UITP.

Thiam was quoted saying: “I look forward to contributing, together with my colleagues and the UITP members, to PTx2, UITP’s worldwide strategy for doubling the market share of public transport around the globe.”

With Ousmane Thiam, CETUD successfully launched the initiative of formalising the informal public transport sector, which is a major issue in most developing countries.

According to the UITP’s Hans Rat, “Dakar was the first fully-fledged urban transport organising authority in Africa. Such authorities in Africa implement ambitious programmes covering legal and regulatory issues as well as financial, operational and technical conditions. The Dakar example has been followed by other Sub-Saharan African cities such as Lagos.”

UITP’s Alain Flausch is quoted saying: “Ousmane Thiam placed UATP on the international scene at the highest level, gaining recognition from organisations and agencies such as the African Union Commission, the European Commission, the World Bank and the United Nations. All these organisations were present at the last African Public Transport Congress in Dakar. The unifying personality of Ousmane Thiam is a clear asset for our Association.”