Tunisia - A small Cabinet meeting was held on Monday morning at the Government Palace in the Kasbah to discuss the valorisation of state land assets, given their role in supporting economic investment and enhancing the social role of the state, according to a statement issued by the Prime Ministry.

The Cabinet approved a series of decisions and urgent measures, including the creation of a national real estate portal that will automatically and directly interact with the systems for the management of private state property and electronic registers by adopting a digital geographical map, and strengthening the link between the national investment platform and the information system of the national land registry and real estate agencies. The aim is to improve coordination and study the demands of investors in the best timeframe.

It also approved the following:

- Accelerating the reuse and valorisation of reclaimed agricultural land and farms by creating a unified committee at the Ministry of Agriculture, including the Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of State Property and Land Affairs, , to follow up on the sale of state land and the management of its reuse.

- Reducing the number of unjustified plots and revising specifications to improve the governance of the international agricultural land use process, in order to shorten the time from the publication of the list of plots to the provision of the necessary incentives to invest in them and the conclusion of marketing contracts, especially in favour of communitarian companies and young entrepreneurs.

-Accelerating the process of submitting applications for voluntary registration in favour of the State, while giving priority to properties with feasibility and added economic value, as well as the balance resulting from the work of the survey committees and the identification of State property.

-Requesting the Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries to create a dashboard to evaluate and monitor the use of state agricultural lands and to restructure the Office of State Lands and other offices to make them more efficient and economically viable.

-Establishing free registration of state land and allocating part of the Fund's resources to support the identification of the land assets.

- Accelerating the updating of the composition and working methods of the National Advisory Committee and the Regional Advisory Committees in charge of settling the status of legal users of state agricultural lands. This is, while considering the possibility of unilateral settlement by issuing lists of those concerned with the use of mortgages on real estate fees, allowing the reintegration of 280,000 hectares of state land into the economic cycle.

- Revising the formulas and conditions for settling the status of old housing complexes built on state property in order to ensure greater efficiency of the settlement procedures by speeding up the process of changing the character of the properties, updating the maps for the protection of agricultural land and reviewing the examples of urban development, while ensuring the necessary measures to protect the state's land assets.

This is while considering the possibility of a unilateral settlement by issuing lists of those concerned with the use of mortgages on real estate charges.

- Allowing the exploitation of the quarries belonging to the state property and requesting the National Bureau of Mines to divide the exploitable quarries in coordination with the Ministry of State Property and Land Affairs.

-Inviting the Ministry of Public Works and Housing to review the composition and mandate of the Advisory Committees of Quarries in order to make their work more efficient and simplify administrative procedures.

- Organising the process of allocating state agricultural land in the form of long-term leases, given the importance of this formula for ensuring the permanence of the land assets and their proper management, and for preserving the land assets for future generations.

-Encouraging the Société de Promotion des Logements Sociaux (SPROLS) and the

Société nationale immobilière de Tunisie (SNIT) to fulfil their social role in the field of housing, while acknowledging their support by providing a stock of international plots at the symbolic dinar.

- Inviting the Ministry of State Property and Land Affairs and the Ministry of Public Works and Housing to complete a comprehensive inventory of foreign property and speed up the work of the national committee in charge of managing foreign property.

- Inviting the Ministry of State Property and Land Affairs, the Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries, and the Ministry of Finance to explore the possibility of instalment payments of rental fees owed by tenants of state properties after the expiration of the contract.

- Regulating the allocation of state non-agricultural lands to public structures and requesting the Ministry of State Property and Land Affairs to prepare a text regulating the conditions and procedures of allocation, in addition to deterring attacks on state lands, intensifying monitoring and on-site inspections, and initiating judicial proceedings against offenders.

- Reviewing the legislation governing quarries in order to act as a lever for investment and calling the governors to overcome difficulties and provide the necessary construction materials for the implementation of projects and the necessary land stock for the implementation of renewable energy projects. The aim is to find alternative energy solutions and improve the services provided at the level of the electricity distribution network for the benefit of customers, whether citizens or investors. And accelerating the preparation of a draft law to revise the legislation governing the management of collective lands, according to the statement.

The meeting comes in implementation of the instructions of the President of the Republic to accelerate the review of the legislation governing the stock of state agricultural and non-agricultural lands and to redouble efforts to find radical solutions that will allow their proper use and improved management to achieve high added value and strengthen the foundations of socio-economic development, the statement said.

At the opening of the meeting, the Prime Minister stressed the importance of the state land assets in increasing the non-tax resources of the State and the need to optimise its exploitation in order to create wealth and achieve a sustainable economy based on the principle of self-reliance and to strengthen the pillars of a just and social State that guarantees the right to a decent life for all Tunisians.

In this context, he recalled the measures taken to strengthen the management of the various non-tax public resources and to legally protect them from risks in order to preserve the public and private property of the State and to put an end to any negligence or abandonment of the resources of the Tunisian people.

During the Cabinet meeting, the Prime Minister called for accelerating the pace of work to overcome all legislative and administrative obstacles and impediments to the proper use and employment of the state's land assets.

He urged the establishment of best practices that enshrine transparency and governance of their management, embodied in the completion of the comprehensive inventory of state land assets, its digitisation, tighter coordination in the collection of their revenues, the establishment of procedures and conditions for their use, the intensification of field monitoring, and the deterrence of attacks on or management of state land assets outside their legal framework, in order to maintain the sustainability of this wealth and its proper employment and investment.

The Minister of State Property and Land Affairs made a presentation that included practical proposals for the valuation of state agricultural and non-agricultural land assets and ways to regulate their management, as well as a programme to settle real estate situations in the field.

The meeting also examined the possibilities of using state lands for investment purposes, the programme for settling residential complexes built on state property and the issue of foreign property.

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