The DTA-MAP-SETEC study group presented the outline of the large-scale port and urban project called “Terminal RO-PAX Bizerte Sud-Zarzouna”, during the Regional Forum on Public/Private Partnership (PPP) in Africa North, organized in Tunis by the African Development Bank (AfDB), the Caisse de dépôt et consignations (CDC) and the General Public-Private Partnership Authority (IGPPP), around the theme “For sustainable and inclusive growth”.
This project, with a total investment of 216 million euros, which will take place in Bizerte, aims to create a modern and digital port equipped with the latest technological advances in the management and interconnection of port operations.
In an interview granted to the TAP agency, Borhane Dhaouadi, project manager, underlined that this public/private partnership aims to diversify the port offer of Bizerte – Menzel Bourguiba, thus strengthening exchanges and logistical flows between the two shores. of the Mediterranean, with modern services for professionals and individuals.
This integrated economic development project, which will be partially located on the south bank of the Bizerte canal and on the bay of the oil terminal, will increase the attractiveness and port capacity of Bizerte.
It will serve as an example of a modern and digital terminal capable of adapting to constantly changing environmental requirements, favoring less polluting equipment, such as the electrification of ships at berth and the use of boats running on liquefied natural gas ( LNG).
The project includes a multi-purpose port terminal for trailers, unaccompanied craft, cars, passengers and cruises, as well as a significant real estate component to balance the considerable investments related to port infrastructure.
The RO-PAX Terminal should create more than 2,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Its financing will be provided by a consortium of private international financial institutions, with the potential participation of Tunisian financing organizations, which will mainly focus on financing the real estate component.
The start date of the works will be fixed once the definitive agreement of the State has been obtained.
An agreement in principle has already been notified by the Merchant Marine and Ports Office (OMMP) on December 29, 2022.
After the finalization of the financing, the works, which will last an estimated 24 months, could start from January 2025.
However, the official launch of activities cannot take place before January 2027.
It should be noted that the realization of projects of this scale generally requires at least 4 years of studies and work for private projects, and at least 10 years for public projects.
When asked to clarify the specificity of this project in relation to the Marina of Bizerte, Borhane Dhaouadi explained that it is a commercial port with a passenger and cruise component, totally different from the Marina of Bizerte. .
He underlined that this new terminal is in no way a competitor of the existing installations, but that it is designed to anticipate the potential evolution of commercial exchanges, in particular due to the relocation of the industry to the Euro-zones. Mediterranean, following the global economic context, marked by the Covid-19 pandemic and geopolitical tensions.
The project will be developed on an existing dilapidated and unused port wasteland along the Bizerte Canal, on the Zarzouna side, to the right of the movable bridge going towards Bizerte. It will occupy a port platform of approximately 16 hectares, of which 13 hectares will be reclaimed from a port beach on the Quai Pétrolier side.
Due to the immediate proximity of housing and the Faculty of Sciences of Bizerte, as well as the lack of urban centrality in Zarzouna, the designers of the project have planned a real urban component around the port, in order to create an economic locomotive in the region.
