FRENCH OVERSEAS

The main crossing point for cargo

The Port of Réunion is located on the northwest coast of the island. It is a port of national interest under a Government concession to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Réunion (CCIR). This multi-function port (trade, fishing, marina, military activity…) is the main crossing point for cargo.

It comprises two sites which are 3 km apart: the industrial and commercial port is in the east and the historic site is in the west next to the city center.     

Since 2004, the Port of Reunion has been implementing a program to extend and modernize its facilities in order to adapt to the increase in the size of ships and traffic volumes and play a major role in regional sea trade. The major issue for the Western Port is to develop the port in a manner consistent with the development of the Port municipality by creating new service and leisure activities and maintaining certain port activities (fishing, marina and cruises).

Increased terminal capacity and creation of a basin marina

In April 2012, AFD signed an €11m financing agreement with the CCIR to finance the Port of Réunion’s investments to extend and deepen the container terminal basin, increase the terminal’s capacity and create a basin marina.

The Eastern Port porticos, © J. Couriaut
 

Scaling up regional and international integration

This financing will promote Réunion’s integration in international and regional trade by reducing waiting times for vessels and freight costs for goods and by increasing the stock turnover rate. The expansion of facilities for pleasure craft will bring economic benefits with the increase in the number of ship repairs, water sports and various commercial activities.

The Port of Réunion’s activity is mainly based on import flows (86% of the total traffic in tons) for the island’s own needs. There is a low level of transshipment activity due to the fact that Port-Louis has comparative advantages in terms of costs and storage area.

The main aim of the works conducted at the Port of Réunion is to raise the mooring capacity, particularly for container ships, and reduce waiting times. The extension of the quays will make it possible to moor two container ships at the same time (against one today).

The objective for the fishing activity is to develop the local supply sector. The fishing basin was indeed delivered in 2009 at the West Port, but the works on the superstructures (workshop, cold store…) need to be conducted on the West Port.

Regional maritime activity is expected to develop with the increased trade between Africa and Asia. In this regard, and despite the fact that Mauritius aims to be a hub in this area, the Port of Réunion is seeking to play a complementary role to Port-Louis. This will only be feasible if its facilities and infrastructure are modernized.

What role(s) did these technical studies play in the social dialogue and negociations between the social and political players since 2009? How did an answer to the crisis emerge around these "expert" approaches? Such are the questions to which this study tries to bring some answers.

Pour autant, les résultats de ces interventions, en termes d’amélioration de la compétitivité des économies ultramarines, paraissent très mitigés. En revanche, le développement marqué de cet interventionnisme a conduit à construire et/ou renforcer des systèmes économiques générateurs d’effets pervers nombreux sur la concurrence et la contestabilité des positions de marché, le niveau général des prix et la considération de l’intérêt général au détriment d’intérêts sectoriels, privés ou individuels.

The demonstrations against the high cost of living paralysed Mayotte’s economy for weeks at the end of 2011. The State responded with a 1 M€ enterprise support package distributed by three organisations, the AFD, the Association pour le droit à l’initiative économique (ADIE) and the Boutiques de Gestion (BGE) management support network.

The three organisations launched a joint information campaign, reaching out - through the “enterprise caravan” - to business managers with information on the tools made available to them. These include:

• Two new sections in the guarantee fund for Mayotte (managed by the AFD) designed to provide cash flow support for businesses hit by the social unrest in 2011;
• Zero-interest loans managed by the l'Association pour le Droit à l’Initiative Economique and the Boutiques de Gestion.
   

After releasing detailed information through the press, the “enterprise caravan” targeted the island’s socio-professional organisations, chambers of commerce, industry and agriculture and vocational training centres, as well as accounting firms and banks.

The campaign was also an opportunity to promote the tools already available on the island. The AFD, for example, publicised the “mezzanine” loan scheme from Oséo, for which Mayotte became eligible when it became a French département.

The first presentations attracted a lot of interest and clearly cater for a real need among entrepreneurs, many of whom have applied to the Agency for support since the initiative was launched.

En 2008, the WWF launched a project for sustainable natural resource management on the Guyana Shield (French Guyana, Surinam, Guyana and Brazil), with 19% co-financing from the FGEF.

 
The aim of the project was to establish lasting protection for marine and forest ecosystems and to preserve their environmental services to local populations.

The final steering committee meeting, held on 6 and 7 March at Paramaribo in Surinam and attended by AFD and FGEF representatives, highlighted the project’s achievements and successes.

The project activities focused mainly on protected area management, reducing gold-panning impacts, sustainable forest management and the management and conservation of aquatic ecosystems and species.

 All these activities, conducted for governments (developing regulations, capacity-building), businesses and national agencies (improved practice and eco-certification, pilot sites, training in ecotourism) and local communities (more sustainable use of the resources they depend on) were backed up by wide-ranging communication, awareness-raising and educational campaigns.

The project brought significant advances towards mercury-free extraction of gold and the introduction of REDD+ processes.

New protected areas were created and the scientific studies produced brought new knowledge on the environment.

The project also organised numerous workshops for exchanges between different territories. All in all, awareness of environmental conservation issues has clearly emerged throughout the region.

The FGEF will be pursuing its activities for the Guyana Shield, in particular by contributing to the project for a regional REDD+ development platform.

The Regional Hospital Center (RHC) is the referral hospital in New Caledonia. This public establishment receives 25,000 patients and 46,000 emergencies every year. It has a capacity of 454 beds and 28 outpatient places spread out over 4 sites, the main one dates back to 1854. The hospital is experiencing a considerable increase in the number of hospitalizations, the occupancy rate and the number of surgical operations. Despite a general effort to upgrade the hospital over the years, all the buildings are now outdated.

One of the largest investments in New Caledonia over the next 10 years

The complete reconstruction of the RHC is scheduled on a single site in Koutio, in the suburbs of Nouméa. This project will be one of the largest investments in New Caledonia over the next decade. It will mobilize all the financial stakeholders. In addition to State support, it has been registered under the French 2012 Hospitals Plan. Médipôle will eventually group together two public facilities – the main Médipôle building, which will gather all the clinical  and medical-technical services of the RHC, and Logipôle, which will group together all the logistics required for the new hospital on one site – and a private facility, the health center for long-term care and rehabilitation.

The construction works are expected to begin by June 2012 and be completed by the end of 2015. Almost all the structural works and part of the finishing works will be conducted by local companies. The construction of the main Médipôle building (the new hospital) is expected to mobilize a total of 600 to 700 people during the main building phase.

A High Environmental Quality hospital

The hospital is certified High Environmental Quality (HQE), will have 645 beds and has been designed to provide 58,000 medical consultations a year. It will have a capacity of 40,000 hospitalizations a year and will include 8 operating rooms, an operating hall and two angiography rooms. Médipôle is currently one of the largest hospital construction projects in France.

AFD’s €40m of financing is in the form of a loan and aims to provide the RHC with part of the resources it will require to finance its share of the investment in the main Médipôle building and in the construction of the Logipôle.