President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali Wednesday chaired the special session of the Regional Council of the governorate of Béja and delivered the following address : " In the Name of God, Clement and Merciful Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today I am chairing the meeting of the Regional Council of the Governorate of Béja, as part of our constant commitment to enhance the development process in the various parts of the country.
On this occasion, I have pleasure in greeting the inhabitants of the Governorate of Béja and I would like to pay tribute to their well-known devotion, self-sacrifice and renewed zeal that have helped consolidate and enrich the gains made by their region.
Since the Change we have paid constant attention to this region and its various sectors. We have invested to the tune of 2.400 million dinars, 1.250 million of this being public investment.
In the farming sector, much has been done; we have built the Sidi Barraq dam as well as 22 hillside dams and 54 hillside lakes, thus enabling the development of 11.500 additional hectares of irrigated land.
Concerning infrastructure, the Governorate has been vastly and variously improved. Means of communication with the neighbouring governorates have been enhanced by, in particular, building the Tunis-Mjez El Bab-Oued Zarga motorway, developing and improving 120 km. of national roads, developing and asphalting 210 km. of regional and local roads, building eight bridges and developing and asphalting a thousand km of rural tracks.
To develop the region's human resources, action has focused on improving the teaching and training system. The network of educational establishments has been extended with the creation of 27 primary schools, 29 elementary and secondary schools, a higher institute of technological studies, a higher institute of applied languages and a higher institute of biotechnology.
The health sector witnessed an improvement in the quality of services through developing a regional hospital, building an obstetric and neonatal centre and the Béja public haemodialysis centre, setting up the Mjez El Bab regional hospital, completing the second phase of the Nefza local hospital and improving the Téboursouk local hospital.
The culture, youth and sports sectors were also given constant care; a cultural centre and open-air theatre were built in Béja, three public libraries in Slouguia, Thibar and Maâgoula, a sports complex in Boujemaâ Kemmiti, two multi-sports halls in Béja and Téboursouk, a centre for training young footballers, a council swimming pool in Téboursouk, a camping centre in Zouaraâ and six youth clubs in the various towns of the area.
In the social field, three local vocational education units were built and a centre for education for the disabled as well as a sheltered housing centre for the elderly were fitted out. As for improving living conditions, a huge amount was done for the Governorate, to better the various indicators. There were projects to provide drinking water and electrification and build water purification centres in Béja, Mjez El Bab, Téboursouk, Testour and Nefza; a number of towns like Béja, Testour, Nefza and Guebollat were protected against flooding. Similarly, many specific projects and programmes were put into effect: 13 integrated rural development projects and two integrated urban development projects in Sidi Raïs and Maâgoula.
As part of the programme on priority delegations, much has been done in the Guebollat and Mjez El Bab delegations to enhance employment. This was accompanied by presidential projects providing for drinking water to 19.200 residents and electricity to 400 households, rehabilitating and cleaning up 18 popular estates and building a cultural complex in Béja and a hospital in Amdoune.
These projects and programmes improved basic living conditions and meant that rural access to electricity rose from 27% in 1987 to 98.9% today, access to drinking water from 28% to 88.5% today, and schooling for the 6-14 age group from 70% to 95.6% today.
Ladies and Gentlemen,We are determined to consolidate, diversify and further enrich these regional gains. In the 11th Development Plan we have set aside a total amount of 900 million dinars, 415 million of which is public investment, for this region.
The plan to develop the region aims at continuing to mobilize and rationalize the use of water resources by putting the final touches to the studies on the Khalled, El Maleh and Béja oued dams and on 15 hillside lakes, as well as strengthening the irrigated crops sector by creating 2730 hectares of irrigated land and carrying out the second project for the integrated management of forests and management of hillside basins.
To further promote and better assist farming in the region, we give instructions for the creation of a study center on large-scale farming and for the launch of a programme specially intended to develop the livestock farming sector and enhance fodder crops.
We also order that irrigated land be developed over a surface area of 2600 hectares; this includes irrigated areas in Aïn Younès on 870 hectares, in Testour on 200 hectares, in Mjez ElBab on 1150 hectares, and in Skhira and Ben Sandel, in the delegation of Testour, on 250 hectares. We also order that development of the irrigated areas in Khalled, in Téboursouk, be undertaken on 30 hectares and in Sbah Al-Majliss, in Amdoune, on 78 hectares, and that a start be made on three new irrigated areas in Bouzaâroura, in the delegation of Béja Sud, on 30 hectares, in Ksar Escheikh, in the delegation of Mjez El Bab, on 20 hectares, and in Ouled Ayar, in the delegation of Testour, on 40 hectares.
In a similar context, we give instructions for increasing the exploitation of groundwater resources, through the construction of a deep well for agricultural irrigation in the area of Ahmed Jedidi, Mjez El Bab, a deep well for drinking water in Ain Soltane, Beja-Nord, and a deep well for agricultural irrigation in Ain Dfeli, Thibar.
On the other hand, to promote integrated development and ensure balance among the different regions of the Governorate, we give instructions for implementing an integrated development programme to sustain the interventions of the Office for Sylvo-pastoral Development of the North-West, contribute to the preservation of natural resources, enhance agricultural production, and improve the incomes of farmers in the delegations of Teboursouk, Mjez El-Bab, Testour, Amdoune, Thibar, Nefza, Goubellat and Beja-Sud.
We also give instructions for launching the implementation of integrated development projects in Amdoune and Nefza.
As regards industrial and technological development, the development plan aims at attracting investors by informing them of the incentives and up-to-date infrastructure the region offers (motorway, rail service and availability of industrial zones).
To back up the effort made in this field, we order that a technological and industrial park be set up in the region on a surface area of 200 hectares that can support development in high added value sectors and encourage the promotion of technological and industrial innovation.
This park will include a central site in Béja and an additional one in Mjez El Bab, as well as industrial zones and establishments, technological development and service areas, a center for various services, a crafts village and remote work areas.
To enrich this programme and diversify its various elements, we give instructions for the creation of a national school of engineering and that the Governorate of Béja be included in the plan to provide natural gas to the northern regions.
As regards tourist development, the plan focuses on making best use of the region's specific natural, historical, cultural and environmental features, and provides for including various sites in the tourist tours.
In this context, we order that the Kasbah sites be restored and fitted out, that a cultural tourist route be designed to tour the Andalusian villages of Béja, Thibar, Téboursouk, Testour and Mjez El Bab, and that an activities and advertising programme be established to promote the Dougga archaeological site and improve the roads that lead to it.
Given the strategic importance of infrastructure in boosting the development work, there will be a concentration on enhancing road networks and developing industrial areas, especially by developing and improving 126 km of classified roads, developing 15 km. of structured road surfaces around the towns, asphalting 133 km of rural tracks, and completing the Oued Zarga-Boussalem motorway stretch.
To back this up, we order that Goubellat town be linked up to the Tunis-Oued Zarga motorway, a bridge built on Oued Maleh in Mjez El Bab, the Mjez El Bab-Goubellat road improved, the ring road linking Mjez El Bab to Guerich El Oued developed, the track linking the Ouled Kacem district to the El Hadid quarry in Nefza developed and the Safsafa-Kedada track in north Béja improved.
Concerning environment protection and quality of life, the plan to develop the Governorate aims at enlarging and rehabilitating the water purification centers in Mjez El Bab and Testour and extending the waste-water networks in Béja, Testour and Nefza.
To consolidate these projects, we order that the second stretch of the urban park of Béja Sud be fitted out, the Dejba nature park in the Thibar delegation be developed, and the waste-water programme in Thibar be completed.
As for promoting human resources and social development, the plan includes a package of projects concerning the vocational training, higher education, health, youth and sports sectors.
These concern extending the in-take capacity and improving the output of the professional training system, developing the university establishments and halls of residence, improving the quality and accessibility to citizens of the health services, setting up an emergency service and laboratory and radiology units in Thibar hospital, maintaining and enlarging the Béja regional hospital, strengthening the network of culture clubs by building a public library in Zahrat Medien and a culture club in Testour, and developing and fitting out existing sports and young people's facilities, enhancing them by building a youth club in Thibar and a turfed rugby pitch in Béja and turfing the Mjez El Bab stadium.
To back up all these projects, provided for by the 11th Plan, we order that the Béja regional hospital be upgraded and the Mjez El Bab regional hospital fitted out, and that a class 4 basic health center be set up in Oued Zarga in the Testour delegation, that the Boujemaâ Kemmiti sports complex in Béja be improved, enlarging its terraces to enable it to hold over 8000 people, improving the natural turf of the main pitch and the artificial turf of the other pitch, that the 7 November multi-sports hall and the 7 November council swimming pool be kept up, and that the center for training young footballers of Béja Nord be enhanced.
We also order that a children's complex be created in Nefza and two children's clubs in Thibar and Goubellat, and that the culture complex of Béja Sud be improved and a public library built in Oued Zarga.
To improve people's living conditions and reconcile the requirements of economic growth and social progress, we have written into the 11th Plan that urban and rural districts must be provided with drinking water and electricity.
Today we order that work be started on providing drinking water to districts with 1260 families living in the areas of Tarhouni, Souaybia in the Amdoune delegation, Taref in the Nefza delegation, Boukaslane, Faouar, Bouhzam and Hamri in the delegation of Béja Nord, Aïn Maleh in the delegation of Béja Sud, and Ben Guiès Talla in Goubellat.
We also order that 81 households be connected up to the electricity grid in the Natafa and Ben Sandel districts in Testour and 30 households in the Talla and Trabelsia districts in Goubellat, that the Erraoudha Estate in Amdoune and the Bouzaïdi Estate in Téboursouk be rehabilitated, and that the Béja town network for the evacuation of run-off water be rehabilitated.
Ladies and Gentlemen,We believe that the gains made by any region represent gains for the country as a whole. We are certain that the inhabitants of this Governorate feel a true desire to work even harder and more selflessly to enhance what has been achieved in their region in every field, so that the initiatives and contributions of all the regions together complete and strengthen the state's plans and programmes, in collective efforts by all Tunisians for integral, balanced national development for our people and our country."
© Tunisia Online News 2009
