The French State and the South Province have signed an agreement for the development of the territory
The President of the Assembly of the Southern Province, Sonia Backès, and the High Commissioner of the Republic, Laurent Prévost, on Thursday August 27th signed an amendment to the State-South Province contract for the development of the territory.
The 2017-2021 State-South Province Development Contract has been modified by an amendment and extended until 2022 with the allocation of additional funds. In total, the two institutions have made a commitment of 13 billion CFP francs (108 million euros) aimed at local projects in New Caledonia.
Of these funds, 1.68 billion CFP francs (15 million euros) will be dedicated to the Overseas Trajectory 5.0 program, structuring the Overseas Blue Book policy. 407.5 million CFP francs (3.4 million euros) will be allocated to the creation of an "eco-center", a large recycling center for different types of waste, a project also included in the 5.0 trajectory. "The idea is to put together the tools that will enable a certain amount of waste to be recycled in one place," said Sonia Backès.
These new allocated funds will specifically entitle the financing of several projects and public policies, in particular the creation of a provincial boarding school, the securing of public colleges, the forest protection plan against fires or the ecological restoration of certain degraded sites. State participation in the program is around 70%, a commitment of 9.2 billion CFP francs (77 million euros) out of the 13 billion signed.
“This contract enabled us, at the start of our mandate, to launch new projects that we could not have launched on our own,” said Sonia Backès, “ which are in line with the objectives of the Southern Province ecological transition, digital development, the youth and the environment ”.