The regional hospital in Zaghouan will soon be transformed into a university hospital, the governor of the region, Mohamed Elleuch, told African Manager in a recent interview.
The Zaghouan governorate has a population of 200,000 and the industrial sector accounts for the lion’s share of activity, spread across 300 factories, 120 of which are export-oriented.
The governor stressed the importance of the role of the private sector in reducing poverty and high unemployment.
In a related context, Mohammed Elleuch expressed the hope that the Zaghouan cable car project – about which we wrote an article recently – would soon see the light of day, saying that the investor had made a “serious” proposal that was currently being studied by the various structures involved in the Ministries of the Economy, Tourism and Foreign Affairs.
Interview:
The social housing project in Bir Mcherga was supposed to be completed in 2018, so why has there been a delay in handing over the flats?
Work on the social housing started in 2016 and was supposed to be completed in 2018, but the developer encountered a number of difficulties, so a number of meetings were organized to overcome them and speed up the pace of completion.
The houses will be completed in the near future and handed over to the beneficiaries before the end of 2023.
In addition, the governorate is currently updating the final list of beneficiaries, which was submitted years ago and subsequently found that many applications didn’t meet the required conditions.
Apart from the inclusion of Zaghouan in the list of governorates affected by the drought, are there any new measures to support the agricultural sector, particularly in view of the water shortage crisis the country is experiencing?
The difficulties encountered in completing one of the most important projects in the region, the development and promotion of agricultural systems in the city, financed by the African Development Bank with a total loan of over 150 million dinars, have been overcome and the completion rate has now reached 14%.
In addition, the project has created an irrigated area in the Fahs delegation, with an estimated budget of 3.5 million dinars.
In addition, Zaghouan has been included in the list of governorates affected by the drought that damaged crops and fruit trees during the 2021-2022 season, enabling farmers to repay their debts. The city is currently looking at new mechanisms to provide more support for farmers.
The industrial sector accounts for the lion’s share of investment in the region. What is the strategy to maintain this upward trend and attract more large companies?
The volume of investment has grown remarkably in recent years, with around 300 projects, including 120 fully exporting companies with an operational capacity of around 25,000 jobs, spread across 11 industrial estates.
In addition, the region’s industrial parks have succeeded in attracting a wide range of industries with national and international appeal, such as the manufacture of crystal and building materials from iron, the pharmaceutical industry, the food industry and the manufacture of car steering wheels.
To be more precise, the Swedish company “Autoliv”, which is one of the leading companies thanks to its modern equipment, promotes steering wheels for the biggest car brands such as “Mercedes” and “Porsche”… The steering wheel is 100% “Made in Tunisia”.
Several industrial zones in the region are also experiencing strong demand from investors, such as a well-known Italian textile group that is planning to expand in the industrial zone, as well as a project to expand a pharmaceutical factory.
The regional hospital in Zaghouan is soon to be transformed into a university hospital… What stage have the proceedings reached?
After the contractor disrupted the work on the expansion of the Zaghouan Regional Hospital and broke his promises, the contract between us was cancelled and a new tender was issued to carry out the expansion project for the second time, at an estimated cost of around 6 million dinars.
We are currently trying to complete the expansion work and change the character of the regional hospital into a university hospital in the coming periods.
In general, we are working to further improve the services provided in the sector, despite the lack of equipment.
