Dakar's Atlantic coast has attracted intense property speculation in recent years, with apartment blocks, offices and hotels constructed at a rapid pace.

Many of the city's residents say they no longer have free access to the ocean, while environmental campaigners have denounced the illegal privatisation of the coastline.

The government has said it will set up a commission to verify the legality of permits issued for old and new properties along the public shoreline, according to a statement from the office of Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko.

At the end of April, law enforcement indicated it had been told to halt construction work along Dakar's coastal roads, but the suspension was not officially announced.

AFP journalists observed that work at many building sites, including major projects, was effectively at a standstill.

But the suspension has raised questions in some economic circles, as the construction industry employs a considerable number of workers.

Senegal's new President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, who was sworn in at the beginning of April, has promised a profound break with the establishment, embodied by his predecessor Macky Sall.

Sall signed a decree last April declassifying an 826-hectare forest intended to hold back the encroaching ocean, to authorise the construction of infrastructure projects, public services and housing.