Annex 4

Zoubeïr MOUHLI : La ville de Tunis : préoccupations urbaines d’une ville méditerranéenne

A l’aube du XXI^ème siècle, Tunis est plus que jamais, soucieuse de préserver la place qu’elle occupe depuis plus d’un millénaire dans l’histoire du pays et de sa région. Succédant à Carthage et à Kairouan, capitale culturelle, politique et économique de la Tunis depuis treize siècles, sa situation exceptionnelle, au cœur du bassin méditerranéen, lui a valu d’être la plaque tournante des grandes routes africaines et le relais naturel du commerce vers l’Europe alors que son rayonnement culturel faisait d’elle un des plus hauts lieux du savoir du monde arabe et musulman.

Au cours des XIX^ème et XX^ème siècles, les fonctions de capitale de Tunis ont continué à s’affirmer en même temps que s’opéraient d’importantes mutations urbaines, socioculturelles et économiques, mutations qui ont, certes, contribué à l’extension de son centre et de ses faubourgs, à l’enrichissement de son patrimoine et au développement de ses infrastructures économiques qui ont marginalisé une grande partie de la population.

Avec l’Indépendance, un projet de ville commence à prendre forme à travers les documents d’urbanisme qui se succèdent et les programmes d’investissement publics qui témoignent des efforts déployés par l’Etat pour doter Tunis de grands équipements, améliorer les conditions d’environnement et réduire les disparités sociales et spatiales. C’est ainsi que l’infrastructure routière, ferroviaire, aéroportuaire et portuaire est modernisé alors que sont réalisés d’importants projets d’assainissement de la ville et que sont engagés des travaux de réhabilitation et d’équipement des quartiers d’habitat spontané.

Malgré ces investissements, des dysfonctionnements et des disparités préoccupantes persistaient et l’environnement et les conditions d’hygiène restaient précaires dans de nombreuses zones, appelant des actions plus énergiques et mieux intégrées.

La politique urbaine poursuivie durant la dernière décennie vise le développement économique de la ville et l’amélioration de la qualité de vie pour ses habitants, en tenant compte des grands enjeux actuels que sont la cohésion sociale et la compétitivité, auxquels tant les hommes que les institutions urbaines sont appelés à faire face. (La Tunisie étant le premier pays du Maghreb à signer un accord de libre échange avec la C.E.E.).

Le dynamisme démographique de la ville qui concentre le ¼ de la population urbaine et 25 % des investissements publics pose, au niveau des activités et de l’emploi, la problématique d’en faire une ville plus compétitive au niveau régional et international et où les disparités ne s’aggravent pas.

1.	La mise en place de programmes de réhabilitation des quartiers périphériques spontanés et la réalisation de nombreux projets d’infrastructures et d’équipements socio-collectifs en faveur des zones les plus défavorisées. Ceci, grâce notamment au PNRQP (Programme National de Réhabilitation des Quartiers Populaires) et au Fond de Solidarité Nationale.
	C’est ainsi qu’ont été réhabilités et assainis de nombreux quartiers populaires, notamment à Ibn Khaldoun, El Kabariya, El Ouardiya et Jebel El Jouloud ainsi que, dernièrement, à Sidi Iiassine Essijoumi, un quartier densément peuplé et particulièrement insalubre. C’est ainsi, également, que la vieille ville où la Médina a profité de deux grands projets d’assainissement et de réhabilitation :
	-	Le projet de restructuration de la Hafsia où a été saisie l’opportunité du III^ème Projet Urbain pour monter une opération intégrée de revalorisation du bâti ancien. Cette opération qui a constitué, du point de vue urbanistique, une réparation du tissu urbain traditionnel, respectant et rétablissant la viabilité de l’organisation et le dimensionnement des îlots de la Médina, a réussit à réhabiliter aux yeux de beaucoup l’image urbaine de la ville historique.
	-	Le deuxième projet est celui d’assainissement et de réhabilitation des « oukalas » où maisons traditionnelles louées à la pièce à des familles rurales qui étaient venues chercher un emploi dans la capitale. Ce projet qui vise l’amélioration des conditions de vie d’environ 3000 ménages parmi les plus pauvres, habitants les immeubles insalubres de la ville, a déjà réussi à octroyer un logement indépendant à 1200 ménages évacués d’urgence des bâtiments menacés de ruine et entamer le deuxième volet de l’opération consistant à réhabiliter 400 immeubles abritant 1500 ménages, grâce à un crédit de 15000.000 dollars contracté du FADES (Fonds arabe de Développement Economique et Social).
	L’on peut dire que ces deux projets (Hafsia et Oukalas) ont été des innovations en matière de réhabilitation du patrimoine immobilier en Tunisie. C’est d’ailleurs dans le cadre de ces deux projets, qu’a été posé le problème de la nécessité de réviser la loi régissant les rapports entre propriétaires et locataires qui bloquait les loyers et donnait le droit de maintien aux locataires, freinant parfois le processus de réhabilitation.
2.	Le deuxième axe autour duquel tourne la politique de développement urbain dans la ville de Tunis est sa réconciliation avec son lac et ses plans d’eau (Sebkhats Sijoumi et Ariana) et le développement de son littoral nord et sud qui constituent des enjeux urbains importants pour l’image de la ville.
	Cette dimension aquatique à retrouver est primordiale pour que Tunis soit une vraie ville méditerranéenne. Ceci est possible grâce à l’assainissement et la restructuration du lac sud et à l’aménagement et au désenclavement de l’ancien port de Tunis.
3.	La politique urbaine repose aussi sur la reconquête du centre car sa marginalisation serait lourde de conséquence sur l’équilibre des fonctions urbaines et parce que l’extension de la ville se fait souvent au détriment des zones agricoles riches.

Il est vrai qu’une réflexion globale sur le centre et la centralité reste à faire. On parle de plus en plus aujourd’hui du « Grand Tunis », ce qui permet une certaine élasticité aux limites de la capitale. Il n’en demeure pas moins que la Médina et la ville basse où ville européenne constituent le centre historique autour duquel s’articulent plus ou moins bien les nouveaux centres périphériques ou banlieues résidentielles. C’est un centre de direction actif et moderne, rassemblant et contrôlant les circuits et les services, les échanges et les relations majeures de la cité.

Des actions de réhabilitation de bâtiments insalubres dans le centre, d’amélioration de la circulation et du stationnement dans les zones de la Médina et Bab Bhar et d’embellissement de l’axe monumental de la ville dans le cadre d’un projet pilote, sont donc envisagées comme trois actions prioritaires susceptibles de permettre à la ville de sauvegarder son patrimoine, préserver son environnement et amorcer la mise en valeur de son centre.

Ces actions préconisées par le document « Tunis du XXI^ème siècle » élaboré dans le cadre de l’étude de l’embellissement de l’hypercentre, confiées en 1994 par la Ville à l’Association Sauvegarde de la Médina, ont commencé à se concrétiser.

Elles répondent au besoins d’une nouvelle « image de la ville » et à une prise de conscience chez la bourgeoisie locale, les décideurs et les aménageurs en charge de la ville, de la nécessité d’élargir la notion de sauvegarde du patrimoine hors des murailles de la vieille ville.

Le devenir de la Médina est intimement lié à celui de la ville basse, implantée à ses portes et devenue, depuis le temps du protectorat, le véritable cœur de la Capitale.

Médina et ville coloniale, formant la « tête urbaine » de la ville, devraient bénéficier de la même sollicitude de sauvegarde. Cette prise de conscience s’est manifestée à travers plusieurs actions dont notamment :

1.	La promulgation de la Loi N° 94-35 du 24 février 1994 relative au Code du Patrimoine où il est indiqué, à l’Art. 3, que : « Sont considérés comme ensembles historiques et traditionnels les biens immeubles, construits ou non, isolés ou reliés, tels que les villes, villages et quartiers, qui, en raison de leur architecture, de leur unicité et de leur harmonie ou de leur intégration dans leur environnement, ont une valeur nationale ou universelle, quant à leur aspect historique, esthétique, artistique ou traditionnel ». Dans cette même Loi, le Code du Patrimoine a institué les Plans de protection et de mise en valeur ainsi que les secteurs sauvegardés.
2.	La création du « Plan de Développement des Municipalités » qui a octroyé à ces dernières plus de prérogatives afin de mieux gérer les communes et remédier aux dysfonctionnements dus à la multiplicité des intervenants. Ceux-ci n’opéraient pas souvent dans un cadre cohérent et leurs projets n’étaient pas le plus souvent accompagnés par des études d’impact (citons à Tunis : les ministères de l’Equipement, de l’Environnement, les Sociétés des berges du lac nord et sud, les différents concessionnaires...).
3.	L’organisation, dans la capitale, de diverses actions de sensibilisation visant à mettre en exergue la valeur patrimoniale de l’architecture européenne en Tunisie.

Ce projet marque une étape importante dans l’évolution des idées en matière d’urbanisme et d’aménagement urbain. Il rompt avec ce qui semble être le destin inéluctable de la ville de Tunis dont la croissance s’est faite par substitution : la ville européenne a pris à la Médina sa centralité, les nouveaux quartiers concurrencent, aujourd’hui cette ville européenne et lui tournent le dos. Il introduit donc l’idée d’une évolution de l’existant par un développement intégré.

Il a le mérite de redonner au centre européen, la place qui lui revient, alors que, consciemment ou inconsciemment, on lui conférait encore récemment l’image de la colonisation.

I am pleased and honoured to address this conference and I would like to thank the organizers for inviting me to this beautiful place.

My name is Jelisava Antolic, and I am the head of the municipality of Omisalj, a little Croatian Mediterranean town situated on an 85m cliff above the sea in the north-western part of the island of Krk. The island covers an area of 405 square kilometres and as such is the largest island of the Adriatic Sea. As of 1980, the island has been connected to the mainland by a bridge. Since the Adriatic is a part of the Mediterranean Sea, Omisalj is a Mediterranean town full of sunlight, flowers, and good people. I hope this can be confirmed by our friends from the town of Taglio di Po.

The first traces of human settlement in Omisalj date back three thousand years. Since that age until today, Omisalj has lived a life that left traces and time has made it a true treasure of cultural and historical heritage. At the beginning of the first century, the Romans built their city of Fulfinum in the Bay of Sepen below Omisalj, the remains of which have been preserved until today. That archaeological site still has not been explored thoroughly. Next to Fulfinum, there are walls of an old Christian basilica from the 5^th or beginning of the 6^th century AD, an archaeological site that deserves special attention. Omisalj received its name back in the Middle Ages when the Frankopan lords built their castle there. So, our roots go way back into history, and I could go into much more detail. For example, there are numerous examples of glagolithic script carved in stone and in books, such as, Vitus of Omisalj’s breviary from 1396 and a glagolithic missal from the first half of the 14^th century. But there is not enough time to cover everything. It would be better if you could come to Omisalj and see for yourselves.

Omisalj's tourist industry statrted in the early 1960s and grew in importance until other less desirable industries developed. Omisalj’s favourable geographical position as the closest settlement on Krk to the mainland and the proximity of a large regional economic and cultural centre, the city of Rijeka, were factors in the establishment of large industrial complexes close to the city:

In addition, in 1970, we saw the opening of Krk Airport, which is a facility of great regional importance.

Since the land area of the municipality is small, the new industries and airport now occupy half the hinterland and more than half of the coast. The town itself is surrounded by Dina, Janaf and the airport, with limited space for further development. So, for the past 25 years, there has been permanent conflict between industry on one side and tourism and urban planning on the other. The consequences of which are obvious in social and economic ways, as well as in the environment.

Aware of the consequences of such "development" on the land and the sea, we have decided to prevent further harm and to save what is left of the healthy environment. To that end we have initiated a series of activities :

Of course, we hope to continue receiving support from our twin town, Taglio di Po, which helped us apply for this programme in the first place. Our friends have similar problems in environmental management and we have mutual understanding for each other’s hardship. We hope that the charter of our twinned towns, signed on 12 September 1993, will help to secure our position in UNESCO’s programme.

Everything said, it is clear that Omisalj is using all possible means to fight existing and potential pollution and industry. All of its documents involve the concept of sustainable development and preservation of the environment. A great incentive to our efforts would be UNESCO’s acceptance of our project. We would particularly welcome the exchange of knowledge and experience with foreign experts and scientists, which might improve our approach to these problems.

As described in the project, we would expect to receive help in the following areas:

Omisalj, its inhabitants and members of the municipal authorities are proud to live in their town, municipality, the island of Krk, Primorsko-Goranska country, Republic of Croatia, and, of course, on the Mediterranean and in Europe. With our knowledge and enthusiasm, as well as with the help of our friends from Taglio di Po and UNESCO, we want to improve the present and invest in the future for new generations.

My name is Børge Lund Jensen and I represent the company Danish Water Supply Ltd.

Me and my colleague Sigfred Lindvig are very pleased to have been invitated to this seminar arranged by UNESCO.

We are very pleased to be here in Marocco too and at last - but not at least - we are pleased to have this opportunity to give you a short briefing about Danish experiences within water supply and waste water treatment.

Danish Water utilities are internationally well known for supplying clean, healthy drinking water and for their high environmental standards. As an example, we haven’t had water-borne diseases for more than 100 years.

DWS is a company owned by 25 of the major Danish Municipalities. Mr. Lindvig and I come from Esbjerg and Odense.

The company’s objective is to collect, co-ordinate and communicate the significant knowledge and expertise available from Denmark’s water utilities.

DWS can draw on more than 1,000 members of staff from the utilities - from management level to specialists and technicians. We arrange a lot of training and twinning programmes.

Planning and public administration in Denmark is carried out at 3 governmental levels:

Denmark covers an area of 43,000 km², the number of inhabitants is approx. 5.2 million, of whom 24% live in rural districts or towns with fewer than 1000 inhabitants.

The Danish water supply is decentralized; there are 300 public water supplies in the large cities and they serve more than 60 % of the population. The other water supplies, about 2500, are small private waterworks which serve people in rural areas.

We have plenty of good water in Denmark; 99 % of our water supply is based on ground water. Treatment is usually a fairly simple process with aeration followed by a filtration process.

But we have now been overtaken by progress. We have detected pesticide residues in the water which means that we are forced to use more advanced water treatments within the most affected areas.

The main source of drinking water in Denmark is from groundwater. This water is in a steady rotation. The groundwater is from 5 - 50 years old and in some parts of Denmark older.

As mentioned we have been overtaken by progress. Today there are many threats against our drinking water. They are various: past industrial activity, use of pesticides to fight weeds in agricultural and public areas, use of insecticides to fight insects and other pests in agricultural areas, landfill and old chemical dumps.

The registration, the enforcement and the cleaning up of old chemical dumps has high priority. Protection of our future drinking water has very high priority in Denmark, and hopefully we will succed with our protection of catchment/recovery areas.

One of the tools we use for planning intervention and protection is computer modelling.

Good maintenance practice - within a water supply - also means detection of leaks and preventative maintenance of pipe systems.

DWS has been involved in projects in both eastern Europe, Africa as well as Asia and our expierences show that one area in particular is often overlooked, and forgotten for years, and that is the huge leakage loss from old distribution systems.

During the last 10 - 15 years, we have seriously been working with this issue and on average the water loss from all Danish utilities is below 10 % which, internationally, is very good.

I have heard about leakage losses of 30 - 60 % of the treated water in many of the cities we have visited.

If resources are limited there is an obvious benefit to be gained by mending a leaking distribution system.

In order to carry out the extensive rehabilitation programme, it is our experience that it demands a lot of planning, co-ordination, training of staff, understanding from both citizens and political decision-makers - but remember it is expensive to renovate distribution systems.

Preventive rehabilitation is not only useful within water supply systems but also within sewage systems. Concerning that, we also have experience:

And last a little about waste water treatment illustrated with a few examples from my own city, Odense. The treatment there is not special but common in Denmark: advanced mechanical, biological and chemical treatment with nutrients removed biologically.

Both inside water supply and waste water treatment and transport we work determinedly on training.

My intention with this short briefing has been to point out possible topics of twinning and co-operation between Essaouira and Danish Water Supply.

We have been in the lucky situation in Denmark that in the last 30 years we have had the financial basis to develop the utilities and remain in the forefront of technological development, administrative practice and practical handling. Together with the Danish companies we are capable of offering support in all fields within the water area.

I think it is also important to be aware that the public Danish utilities are non-profit or "rest-in-itself-companies" - which means that the utilities every year have to make a budget, in order to ensure both operation and maintenance and future investments. And may be the discussion has to start here:

How can our water management be sustainable and how to finance our activities ? Thank you for your attention.

First of all, I would like to thank UNESCO for including Kotor in this project and I would also like to thank Essaouira for her hospitality. I say "Essaouira" because, after these few days, I don’t see Essaouira as a city of buildings, I see, I feel, Essaouira as "being". I would now like to present to you my town -KOTOR.

Kotor town, with a population of 25 000, lies on the Montenegrin coast in the southern Adriatic. It stands at the foot of the Lovcen massif, at the end of the deep, rugged Bay of Kotor. The medieval city of Kotor, bordered by fortress walls was, through the centuries, the cultural and trade center of Kotor bay. This bay is one of the most magnificent "fjords" on the Mediterranean and is flanked by an exceptionally rich variety of cultural monuments from all ages.

You must believe that dramatic beauty of Kotor town and Kotor Bay sometimes takes the breath away. The fact that Kotor is on the List of the World Natural and Cultural Heritage speaks for itself.

Lord Byron once wrote, "At the moment of the birth of our planet, the most beautiful meeting of land and sea was here" and "When the pearls of nature were sown, on this land a fist-full was gathered". From the top of the Lovcen’s mountain with Kotor Bay in front of him, Bernard Shaw shouted, "People am I in heaven or on the moon?".

The bio-geographical conditions of the Kotor region favoured the emergence and development of a succession of civilizations and cultures. The earliest signs of civilization in this region are Neolithic artifacts found in the Spila cave; there are also cave paintings in the Lipici grotto. Burial mounds and the ruins of the town of Teuta are all that remain of the Illyrian civilization that flourished here in the 3^rd century B. C. Next sailors and traders of the Hellenic age established a trading post. They were followed by the Romans who built a fort for one of their military units. From this period there remains a mosaic floor, of a 3^rd century Roman villa, that depicts Hypnos the Roman God of sleep.

Naturally protected by a steep cliff from inland attack as well as by the sea, Kotor successfully survived the great barbarian migrations of late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. From the time of Justinian I, it became one of the Byzantine strongholds on the Adriatic sea. The remains of an Episcopal basilica to St. Mary of the River discovered near the city gates illustrates the importance of Kotor in the 6^th century.

At the end of the 12^th century Kotor, as Serbia’s main port and economic and cultural centre, had a powerful influence on the development of education, the arts and crafts; a grammar school was established in the 13^th century and a school of fine arts in the 14^th century.

In this period between 12^th and 14^th centuries the Byzantine ramparts were reinforced and a great number of houses, palaces of the aristocracy and churches were constructed in the Romanesque and Romanesque-Gothic styles. The great St. Tryphon cathedral was build in the style of the Romanesque basilicas of southern Italy; it houses the town’s patron saint St.Tryphon. The domed, single-nave basilica of St.Luke was built and decorated with frescoes in 1195; the church of St. Mary of the River, with a dome and roof of stone slabs, was build in 1221; the little church of St. Anne’s dates from the same period as St. Paul’s church built in 1263.

From the 15^th to the 18^th century Kotor was ruled by Venice. With the rise of Turkish power in the Balkans Kotor was forced to adapt its old fortifications for defense against firearms.

Due to big earthquakes in the 16^th and 17^th centuries a great number of architecturally significant buildings were damaged. The remains were later incorporated into new Baroque style structures.

A strong earthquake in 1979 damaged many buildings in Kotor; it also provided an opportunity to examine the town’s architectural past and led to an investigation of its origins. As a result of the earthquake Kotor was added to the List of Endangered World Cultural Heritage Sites during a conference in Cairo, held in October 1979. Its dossier number in Paris is 125/79.

Kotor has all the features of a typical Mediterranean town: narrow sinuous streets, little picturesque shops, antique monuments and buildings. The main economic activity in Kotor, as in other Montenegrin coastal towns (with a 5-6 month swimming season, mean sea temperature above 18° C and 2700 hours of sun per year) is tourism and sailing; fishing, light industry and agriculture are also of some importance.

Kotor town has, among other things problems with: water supply; salt water intrusion; sewage; waste-water treatement and disposal; marine pollution; flood control in the old part of the town and solid waste treatement and disposal. These problems need to be tackled with the preservation of Kotor’s unique cultural heritage in mind.

Between 1915 and the late 1970s all the water sources in the Kotor region were captured, but the quantity of water is still insufficient. The existing water supply system of the Kotor municipality, with two water supply zones, covers about 90% of its 25 000 inhabitants, with a flow of 150 l/s.

The Kotor springs get brackish from time to time; some of them can only be considered as temporary resources to be used until the Regional Water Supply System of the Montenegrin Coast (RWSSMC) is complete. The Kotor water supply company transfers water from the RWSSMC to the urban distribution network in order to supply demand, maintain pressure and water quality and so maximize cost benefit rations.

A lot of work still needs to be done to rehabilitate and optimize the water supply system:

The Boka Kotorska Bay is undoubtedly the region of the Montenegrin coast the most affected by pollution. Sewage discharge from three small towns Kotor (25 000 inhabitants), Herceg Novi (45 000 inhabitants), and Tivat (16 000 inhabitants) is concentrated in Boka Kotorska Bay. This alters the background level of organic matter and results in nutrient build up. Once the sewage systems for Kotor, Tivat and Herceg Novi are complete waste-water will be discharged through underwater outfalls in the open coastal area rather than in Boka Kotorska Bay. The "Kotor -Trašte" waste-water discharge macrosystem for the municipality of Kotor to the open sea is 80% complete. The Tivat- Trašte system is also not yet complete.

In the some parts of the old town an underground stream was disturbed by the construction of underground galleries. Now some parts of the old town are flooded by storm waters and a great number of cultural monuments are endangered. The storage capacity of the sewage system must be enlarged to cope with storm water. In some parts of town it will be difficult, almost impossible, to replace existing sewage pipes with new ones of larger diameter.

After a strong earthquake in April 1979 damaged buildings were systematically salvaged and steps were taken to renew the affected zones. In total over 600 cultural monuments were damaged and 110 000 historic artifacts were endangered.

The importance of Kotor’s cultural heritage requires systematic research and conservation with appropriate technical support. All such actions are under the direction of the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, with local and word wide help.

The complex operation of salvaging ruined buildings included the excavation and restoration of buildings that had been engulfed by newer structures. The final goal was the revitalization of houses, public buildings and open spaces and a general upgrading of technical and hygienic standards.

The ground floors of houses have been given new functions, being connected with open spaces. Some of the great buildings and palaces of this ancient city have been restored to public use. The Gothic Drago Palace now houses the Institute for the Protection of Cultural Heritage, the Baroque Grgurin Palace is a Naval Museum and the Venetian Military Hospital has become the home for the Cultural Centre.

St.Luka’s church (1195), a mixture of Romanesque and Byzantine architecture has been restored to it’s original appearance. Recent restoration of the church of St. Mary’s of the River (1221) revealed frescoes of great beauty; St.Ane’s church (13^th century) has also been faithfully reconstructed.

The problem of solid waste disposal in the Kotor municipality may be solved by its participation in the project: Solid waste treatment and disposal in Montenegro by WABIO ECOTEC technology; one of the newest waste treatment systems in the world. The WABIO process is an anaerobic digestion treatment of organic solid waste and sludge. Before the WABIO process non-organic, solid waste must be separated out; glass, plastic, paper and metal are now routinely separated and at least in part recycled. To some extent this separation is done by householders themselves.

It is important that environmentally sound development is integrated at every level in the life of Kotor town so that urban development is in harmony with the natural environment and a system of environmentally sound living is developed.

Implementation is to be started through education initially in schools but also in youth organizations (e.g. the ecological youth agency), women’s and others organizations and sports clubs for environmentally sound sports development.

At the moment the environmentally sound sports on offer in Kotor are swimming and water polo, but it is hoped that cycling, rowing, wind-surfing and para-gliding will be developed

As well as Kotor there are two other towns on Kotor Bay, Herceg Novi and Tivat. Thus it is impossible to treat Kotor as a separate community in the sense of waste-water disposal. Other towns on the Montenegrin coast also share Kotor’s problem of balancing urban development, water resource management and the preservation of a rich cultural heritage. Kotor’s experience as a pilot project site will serve as a guide for other towns on the Adriatic.

Monsieur Tahar Afify, Président du Conseil Municipal d’Essaouira,
Monsieur Amine Belcadi, Gouverneur de la Province d’Essaouira,
Monsieur André Azoulay, Conseiller de Sa Majesté le Roi Hassan II,
Monsieur Abdelaziz Meziane Belfkih, Ministre de l’Agriculture, de l’Equipement et de l’Environnement,
Madame Aziza Benani, Secretaire d’Etat à la Culture,
Monsieur Ali Kazancigil, Directeur de la Division de Siences Sociales, de la Rechreche et des Politiques de l’UNESCO,
Messieurs les Collegues représentantes des villes côtières de la Méditerranée et de l’Atlantique,
etc.

J’ai l’honneur et le plaisir de représenter ici M. Carlo Sechi, Maire de la Ville d’Alghero. Alghero a bien de similarités avec Essaouira. La ville ancienne a été fortifiée dans un promontoire rocheux entre des plages de la côte Nord-Ouest de la Sardaigne. Elle a été bâtie sur les ruines d’un ancien centre Romain par une colonie de pécheurs catalans de l’î le de Minorque, au Moyen Age, quand la Sardaigne était dominée par les Espagnoles. Les mémoires archéologiques dans le territoire remontent au Paléolithique et au Néolithique.

C’est la porte d’or du tourisme de la Sardaigne, bien plus que la Côte d’Eméraude des années soixante. Alghero est le résultat d’un mélange des différentes cultures. Ses 40,000 habitants consistant d’un noyau très fier de son origine et de sa langue catalane, mêlé avec des populations sardes, ont très bien accueilli les presque 400 étrangers residant.

La ville, symbole d’orgueil citadin, est un laboratoire de projets de valorisation de son architecture et des activités traditionelles, telles que l’orfèvrerie, la pêche du corail et des langoustes, le tourisme de congrès, l’agrotourisme et la formation hôtelière.

On a déjà dû faire face aux problèmes qui préoccupent Essaouira: l’érosion des anciens murs de pierres sur le promontoire et des plages, l’impacte du bâti ancien et moderne sur la côte émergée et submergée, la gestion des ressources en eau et la protection de l’environnement.

Nos expériences pourraient bien être mises en partenariat comme base pour un développement rationel et durable de nos territoires et la valorisation des patrimoines naturels et culturels pour le bien de nos populations.

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