Site visit at former Le Beach Hotel, Marigot, with CEREMA and Collectivité officials.
MARIGOT--Collectivité President Louis Mussington and National Director of CEREMA, Pascal Bertaud, signed a framework agreement on Monday relating to regional planning and support that CEREMA will bring to several projects.
CEREMA, which stands for Centre for Studies and Expertise on Risks, the Environment, Mobility and Urban Planning is the major French public agency for developing public expertise in the fields of urban planning, regional cohesion and ecological and energy transition for resilient and climate-neutral cities and regions.
The organisation was created in 2014 by merging eleven public expertise bodies, each with decades of experience in the fields of bridges, roads, ports infrastructure, water, geotechnics, risk, land use and urban development.
As a multidisciplinary scientific and technical resource and expertise centre, CEREMA provides assistance in developing, implementing and assessing public policies at national and local levels, where the challenges of the climatic, ecological transition and regional cohesion are paramount.
Bertaud and Director of the Antilles Agency Yannick Cesarin travelled to Saint-Martin to meet with local elected representatives and sign the agreement, which has been under discussion for several months. Director General of Services (DGS) Natacha Pétrine and her team were present at the table.
Finalising post-Hurricane Irma reconstruction, taking climate change and the sustainable development of the region into account, development of the territory and land preservation, are all issues the Collectivité has to address, and it needed support in a proactive, partnership-based approach.
The Collectivité also wants to refine its Territorial Project, in order to produce an action plan drawn up that will clarify a roadmap for the next 10 years. CEREMA will provide its expertise on studies, works and surveys in line with the Collectivité Pluriannual Investment Plan (PPI)
As indicated by Vice-President Michel Petit in his introduction, CEREMA will be able to intervene in various fields, such as:
* Support for project management and application of public policies,
* Applied research, innovation, experimentation and technology watch,
* Methodology, expertise and advanced engineering,
* Dissemination of knowledge, certification, standardisation,
* Financial engineering
Three development projects were presented; implementation of the territorial urban transport plan, the project to extend the Grand Case airport runway and the beach silting project. Port Director Albéric Ellis also presented the project to extend the port area.
After the meeting, site visits of projects presented at the meeting were led by Vice-President Bernadette Davis, who is in charge of the Living Environment and Ecological Transition.
Projects visited included ongoing reconstruction of the former Le Beach Hotel in the presence of Philippe Seguin and Véronique Legris, President and Director respectively of Club du Tourisme, Collège 900 in La Savane, Grand Case Airport, and the commercial port of Galisbay.
