After the deliberation of the Community Councils of Nice Côte d’Azur, Mercantour, Tinée, and Vésubie-Mercantour on April 18, the Prefect of Alpes-Maritimes signed on April 21 an order authorizing the project to create the Nice Côte d’Azur Metropolis on January 1, 2012, after the execution of the various procedures provided for this purpose by the law.
The evident relationship between these two acts (the political one of the community councils’ vote and the other administrative by the representative of the State) better explains the urgency of the action by Christian Estrosi, who wanted to take advantage of the good result of the cantonal elections and the imminent departure of Prefect Lamy to create a situation of fact regarding this very important dossier for the political governance of the territory and its political positioning in future perspective.
Excluded from the Government and leadership of the UMP, the future president of the Metropolis needed to regain control of the situation and demonstrate his authority: success in the cantonal elections (with a UMP struggling nationally) and the creation of the metropolis (the first in France within the framework of the territorial reform) are two great cards to play.
However, the Mayor of Nice knows very well that a project so needy of a perfect politico-administrative framework must also have convincing content to avoid becoming a “castellum aquae.” Therefore, as soon as the prefectural green light was given, he did not delay in unveiling his operational vision of the future metropolis, with alongside him the presidents of the other inter-communalities, attentive but silent, in application of the “principle of domination”: there is the boss, and then there are the others.
Christian Estrosi: “The territorial reform aims to equip France with competitive Metropolises, making the French urban landscape more readable and able to confront European metropolises.
Seizing this opportunity and transforming it into ambition is to make the NCA Metropolis the laboratory of Urban France of the 21st century with the ambition ‘to live better in the territories’ and to create the jobs of tomorrow.”
“The future Metropolis will be, with the OIN (Operation of National Interest), the lever for the economic development of the territory that aims to be ‘unique’: its geographical positioning makes its isolation an asset and a necessity to invent new forms of better living just as it invented seaside tourism two centuries ago.”
The strategic orientations of the masterplan
health and bio-technologies (Pasteur II and other National R&D Centers)
Eco-Valley (10,000 hectares) will be a driver of innovation, creation, and establishment of businesses and jobs
“green technologies”
a comprehensive offer in terms of deployment and transportation (global airport plan, TGV, tram intermodality, pricing policy, electric vehicles)
tourism (4.5 million visitors/year in Nice, 1.5 billion in revenue, 75,000 direct jobs and 150,000 induced jobs)
Economic development will be organized around governance between the Metropolis, the General Council, the EPA (public institution managing the OIN), and the Chamber of Commerce (which will also become Metropolitan by replacing the Regional one in certain competences) within the framework of a “Metropololitan Development Charter” and focused on economic attractiveness through the creation of an “attractiveness agency”, thereby merging tourism promotion, economic and research, which will be reinforced with the creation of the attractiveness agency merging tourism promotion, economic, and research.
Similarly, a strategy will be implemented in terms of sustainable development to reduce the territory’s vulnerability and energy dependency with the objective of producing 28% of electricity needs at present and 33% by 2020, as well as 10% of heating and cooling needs through biomass and marine geothermal energy.
