During a Board of Directors meeting held yesterday, all partners approved a new governance structure with the establishment of a strategic consultation committee aimed at studying how the priority operations of the Eco-Valley are interconnected and with other operations developed by the project partners, and to consider these operations from the perspective of eco-exemplarity, with the intention of developing an economic program that includes job creation and job diversity.
For the mayor of Nice and president of the Metropolis, “This permanent dialogue forum will allow us to be creative enough and avoid consolidating a process that, by nature, must be evolving to align with a development and planning operation of such a scale in terms of time and space, while bringing together many different stakeholders.”
What is it really about? It’s a sort of “missio ad gentes” to spread the good word about this project, which is expected to transform this area into a technology park of the future, whereas so far, the emphasis has mostly been on land impact and real estate aspects.
Hence the skepticism of many and the criticism of some (the Greens and ad hoc committees leading the charge).
This committee will be comprised, following the organizational model from the Grenelle Environmental Round Table, of the following five bodies: State, elected officials, employee and employer representatives, representative associations, and, additionally, qualified individuals.
A change of direction for Christian Estrosi, who is more of a decision-maker and who, during public consultations, had not truly listened to the various oppositions to the project’s master plan.
Christian Estrosi asserts his good faith: “The consultation around the Eco-Valley, a National Interest Operation spanning over 10,000 hectares in the Var Plain, has always been essential to me. That is why we initiated the consultation around the territorial project as early as 2011. At that time, it was important to collectively set the main guidelines that would structure the reflections and actions in the Eco-Valley for the next thirty years.”
Is it really far-fetched to imagine that a few “friendly advice” from the Prefect, who supports this initiative, might have led to this change in direction and new working method?
Indeed, the statement from Annabelle Jaeger, regional councilor for the Greens, strongly suggests as much:
“I believe that the consultation around projects carried out under the framework of the OIN has so far been an illusion. Criticizing the opaque and unilateral method that has characterized the National Interest Operation in the Var Plain since its inception in 2008, and considering the magnitude of the operation (10,000 hectares) and the stakes of planning involved with the OIN, we were calling for a public debate on the territorial project.
This organized and ongoing consultation corresponds to a demand that my regional colleagues and I have been advocating for months within the EPA Board and also with the Ministry of Cécile Duflot.
I am pleased to have been heard. We now have the first visible effect of aligning the OIN with governmental policy, and we will be particularly vigilant in its implementation.”
To be continued…
