Sustainable development in Tunisian suburbs

In the west districts of the Tunisian capital, environmental conditions are not the best due to inappropriate treatment of wastewater. Experts even talk about a risk of ghettoization of those areas. The Tunisian government is working hand in hand with the European Union to change this fact.

Samira Al Sadfi - Tunis, Eurojar

With the support of the European Union, Tunisia launches as of 2010 a two-phase modernization plan of its 19 water treatment stations. Khalil Atieh, engineer and head of the Decontamination National Office in Tunisia (ONAS), details the different stages of this initiative:”The old stations are in a lamentable state and cannot absorb the large quantities of used water produced in residential districts, especially with the increasing population density.” According to him, the first phase of the project involves calls for proposals to renovate the 8 stations that ONAS intends to launch in the year 2010. The other part of the job is left for the year 2011.

The provinces’ stations consist of 130 pumping points. The global budget of the modernization plan is estimated to 232 million Tunisian Dinars (130 million Euros). The Tunisian government will take in charge 36% of the amount. Another 58% will be provided by two European financial institutions: the German Development Bank (KFW) and the French Development Agency (AFD). The remaining 6% will be donated by the European Union in the framework of the Neighborhood Investment Facility (NIF).

Giulia Buscosi, in charge of sustainable development projects at the European Union delegation says that NIF objective is to call upon European banks to contribute in this plan and provide the necessary funds to launch development projects conceived by EU partner countries for the Mediterranean.

The European Investment Bank, the KFW and the AFD will thus be in charge of providing the necessary funds to renovate the Tunisian water treatment stations through subsidized loans. German ambassador to Tunisia, Horst-Wolfram Kerll, notes that the agreement on the first part of the budget has been concluded with the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, adding that the programme plans to furnish 4 stations in the regions of Al Mahdia, Kafssa, Nabol and Meknine with the necessary equipment to produce methane.

A new station
In order to reinforce waste water treatment networks that stretch from the northern to the southern provinces, a new station will be built to enhance the unacceptable environmental conditions prevailing on the west side of the Tunisian capital. Several anarchic constructions took place in the 70s and 80s in the west of the city. The districts of Wifaq, Aqaba, Farashish, Nasr, Mohmad Ali, Borj Shakir and others should get special attention. Yet, any initiative in those areas requires huge investments that the government cannot afford. Relying on its main partner in the field of development, Tunisia got from the EU the financial support to build a waste water treatment network in those areas. This was not an easy task due to the lack of a clear environmental map in the region and due to rudimentary layouts of conventional sewerage canals flowing directly in the middle of the city’s residential areas.

Ghettoization risk
A Tunisian urban planning expert warns that “if environmental conditions remain the same, the inhabitants of the west of the city are at risk of being more and more marginalized and deprived from the development plans targeting other modern districts of the city’s suburbs.” This raises the necessity of connecting the underprivileged districts to the new water treatment network in order to prevent their ghettoization. Furthermore, Khalil Atieh notes that “as long as polluted water is circulating in residential districts and contaminating water tables, it is impossible to talk about sustainable development, improved living conditions or a successful urban culture.”

Beside those areas, ONAS is working on the development of other large districts, Sidi Hussein, previously not included in the development plan due to the fact that its inhabitants rejected the urban planning project proposed by the municipality. ONAS is in the process of building a new station on the border of a bottom land that turns into a stagnant lake during winter time. The budget allocated for this project called “Al Attar” is 43 million dinars (23 million Euros). With a total capacity reaching 60 thousand cubic meters a day, this station will cover the needs of 25 residential districts of the city’s west suburbs. The EU is funding part of this project through the European Investment Bank. The Tunisian government along with the World Bank is taking in charge the remaining stake.