Transcript STUDY TOUR FRANCE

STUDY TOUR FRANCE
29 APRIL – 9 MAY 2004
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INDEX
 TEAM
 DO’S AND
DONTS
 FRENCH GOVERNMENT SYTEM
 WHAT DID WE DO.
 REPORT AT THE END
 PLACES ATTENDED
 COLLAGE OF SOME PICTURES
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DO’S AND DON’TS
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Always be on time.
 Be sure of the outcome of
the tour
 Ask as much questions
as possible.
 Make sure you
understand the issues
 Enjoy the tour
 See this as a opportunity
for marketing
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Don’t carry al your money
with you.
Be aware of pick
pocketing
Don’t buy one day rail
tickets
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FRENCH GOVERNMENT
SYSTEM
Government
Regions (23)
Departments (96)
Communes (36 000)
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DAY 1
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There seems to be limited public participation when compared to
South Africa. South Africa is much more involved and thorough in
this regard. One benefit in the French Government is that they hold
local referendums on important issues.
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Special mention was made of qualification requirements, career
development, training and capacity building for local government
officials. It was also mentioned that cities compete to attract the best
local government officials.
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French government have negotiations between different levels of
government to render services for infrastructure. Contractual
agreements between different government spheres. This may be
similar to service delivery agreements in South Africa. Integration of
medium term planning strategy (3 to 5 years).
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DAY 2
 VISIT
- Sewerage Plant of Colombes
managed by SIAAP
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Seint - Normandie Water Agency
 VISIT
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- ISTED
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Visit to Sewerage Plant of Colombes
managed by SIAAP
Seint - Normandie Water Agency
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Serve Population 1 Million
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Cost € 450 million
operates at € 20 million per annum
operating costs (€ 0.22 per cubic meter)
disposes of 240 000 cubic meter per day
fully controls the quality of water outflows as
well as of fume and odour emissions
An interdepartmental syndicate owns and
runs the plant.
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When the Municipalities did the planning for the plant, cost was not
an issue but the expected lifespan of more than 100 years was
taken in consideration. The drive was to comply with EU standards
for environmental standards and sustainability. This practice
highlights that when it comes to the planning of infrastructure of this
magnitude, planners should look at the objective/outcome and not
primarily at the cost.
The Plant was created mainly for water quality and tap water is said
to be of a better quality than bottled water.
From discussions with representatives of the water Agency, it was
mentioned that the plant will never be replicated in France again as
a result of the cost being too high.
The roll that the agency plays is unique and is mainly focused on
financial and technical support.
The principle applied is that water related infrastructure should be
financed by water revenue, which indicates that the service is
ringfenced.
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 The
plant meets
the highest
environmental
standards and is
designed to cope
with large
excesses of
rainwater run off.
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The Agency is one of six
catchment authorities or
river basin agencies
covering metropolitan
France, but represents
over a quarter of France in
terms of population (18
million), municipalities (8
700 municipalities) and
departments (25).
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ISTED
 ISTED
is a specialized data and research
centre on roads, transport and urban
development in developing countries.
 Legally a non-profit organisation with 60
members, 25 staff and a budget of €4,5
million, it is funded by public institutions,
including the French Government, the EU
and the World Bank.
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World Congress of the United Cities and Local
Government (UCLG)
Palais des Congres
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First Plenary Session: Human
Rights in Our Cities
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to tackle the key issues of poverty, hunger, and
the lack of access to basic services in education
and health by the year 2015
 that local government is the sphere of
government closest to he needs of the
population as more than 50% of the world
population live in cities
 Cities are burdened with a further evil: war and
terrorism. What is the impact? And how should
the plan to overcome these challenges?
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Local Action for Environment
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The world is becoming more and more urbanized,
resulting in more pressure for the rendering of services
on sanitation, water and electricity.
The handling of solid waste is directly linked to the
quality of living standards (higher quality creates more
solid waste) and the cost of managing waste can be
recovered through selling of recycled goods.
Lessons from Rio de Janeiro how to curb erosion and
mud slides through reforesting processes create jobs
and enhance dignity of communities.
The preservation of the environment should start with
programmes at school level.
Natural resources can be preserved by saving on the
consumption of water and electricity.
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Day Five - DEXIA Credit Local
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formed in 1996 by the merging of two communal
banks, viz. Credit Local de France, a bank
formed in 1987 and Credit Communal de
Belgique
 financing of local authorities and other local
sector bodies via direct loans signed
commitments or purchases of securities issued
by the customer
 ; Project financing is mainly provided for, public
transport, the environment and energy 15
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The need to encourage competition within local
government lending market.
 Propose securitisation and debt restructuring
even credit enhancement to support the SA
municipal debt market as feasible financial
instruments.
 Dexia indicated their willingness to arrange a
workshop with their structured finance people to
promote these concepts in SA through INCA
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South African Embassy
 welcomed
by Deputy Ambassador Enrico
Kemp and his staff responsible for
international bilateral and multilateral
relations
 Embassy personnel indicated that they
would welcome future study tour delegates
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Day Six - Reunion Island
 only
French department and European
region in the southern hemisphere
 population of 760 000 (1 million in 2025)
Reunion’s predominant feature is its ethnic
diversity.
 population is very young: 56% under the
age of 30 years and population growth is
expected to stabilize by the year 201
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 high
unemployment rate which currently
stands at approximately 30%
 elect five representatives who sit in the
French Parliament and three Senators
who sit in the Higher Chamber
 Prefect (French government highest
ranking civil servant at provincial level)
 Regional Council and 24 municipal
councils.
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 The
French first set foot on the island in
1649
 Until 1946 there was a mix of being a
classic French colony and a department,
with a brief English rule between 1804 to
1811
 From 1946 Reunion became a fullyfledged overseas French department just
like any mainland department
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State functions such as Public law and order,
Defence, Employment, Environment, Transport,
Airport, Hospitals, Elections, Implementation of
policies and monitoring compliance thereof,
Housing, Cultural and Sport.
 Management of European structural funds
earmarked for addressing backlogs – an amount
of €3 billion in capital funds over the next 6 years
 Proactive monitoring of budgets and ensuring
legal compliance by municipalities
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Each level decides on its own budget. 50% of GDP is
transferred from the government to local government.
70% of income streams are from state grants, local taxes
and the balance from loans.
A balanced budget approach is followed both in terms of
operational expenditure and investment (capital
expenditure).
The planning period is normally five years or more.
Elected officials are responsible for making decisions on
which projects or works are included in the budget and
medium-term plan. In certain cases consultations with
the public and relevant stakeholders will take place but it
is not a legal requirement.
Any operating surpluses go into investments (funding of
additional capital expenditure).
Approximately 25% of the operating budget is allocated
to debt servicing cost.
Property taxes are collected by state and then reallocated to local authorities.
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non payment level for municipal services is
estimated at approximately 5%.
 principle that everyone should pay for services
consumed
 social assistance program assists residents to
pay for services
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on a salary of €1 000 per month an employee will
contribute €100 and employers €800 to the social
security fund, which covers medical aid, family
allowances, unemployment benefits and occupational
injuries
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The minimum wage is €1 000 per month and the
general social security fund pays €500 per
month to people who have not worked before in
the form of a social grant.
 two-envelope tender process followed, viz. the
first envelope consists of technical competence,
tax paying institutions and financial guarantees
(first decision) and the second covers the pricing
proposal of the tenderer.
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Local taxes include land tax, residence tax,
agricultural tax and a professional tax for
companies
 Income tax (one third of working people pay
income and the maximum tax rate is 48%),
company tax, oil tax, VAT. Two thirds of the
state income is funded by VAT, and one percent
of the VAT collected is transferred to fund EU
programmes. Taxes are regulated by law and
local authorities cannot create new taxes
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SIDR: Social Housing Projects
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SIDR is a social housing entity founded in 1949
as a public/private company
 shareholders include AFD (54%), Regional
Council/Department (43%) and Private
Shareholders (3%)
 SIDR has built 29 000 flats in collective and
individual housing
 SIDR construct on average 400 flats and houses
for rent, 100 houses for sale in social housing
and 50 flats in non-social housing
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The rehabilitation of social housing units began in 1985.
The investment for 2004 amounts to €15 million and the
average cost per unit is €36 000. SIDR aims to rehabilitate 5
400 flats by 2009.
Approximately 10% of population live in slumps (informal
settlements) with one third dependent on social security
benefits. The average household benefit is €762 per month
(€500 for social benefit and €262 for family and housing
allowances).
Rehabilitation cost is financed by state subsidies (22%), SIDR
funds (60%) and bank loans (18%).
Tenants pay on average €230 per month for a 60m2 size flat
and rentals increase on average by 10% after rehabilitation.
Only 1.5% of people default on housing rental payments.
They use electrification as a control measure to register
occupants
Shortage of land is becoming a problem with regard with their
objective for housing
To build 10 000 houses/flat will take 20 years
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Meeting with the Regional
Council
 budget
allocations for the 2004 financial year
amounting to €508 million
 funded mainly by direct and indirect taxes
(46%), grants from central government and
the European Union (38%) and loans (13%).
 the Regional Council is to focus more on the
development of long-term policy
 plays an important role in terms of
decentralization
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 investment
programme is informed by the
projected population growth of approximately
33% over the next 20 years
 giving priority to employment, developing
solidarity, investing in the people of Reunion,
widen the horizons of Reunion and the
promotion of sustainable development.
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Dèpartment: Water Catchment
Project
 Visit
to bulk water facility used to provide
water primarily for irrigation and industrial
purposes
 technology used to channel water through
a tunnel system from the east of Reunion
(which is water rich region due to the high
rainfall which averages 5m pa to the west
of the island which averages 1m rainfall
per annum
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 in
1983 30kms of tunnel was built
consisting of 8 tunnels to transport 50
000m3 water together with reservoirs and
pump stations as part of phase 1 servicing
7150 ha of land
 Total cost of phase 1; 526m euros
 was financed through European Union,
government subsidies and grants and the
Department
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St Pierre Municipality/DDE/CIVIS
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Economies of scale can be achieved through the
amalgamation of smaller Boroughs into larger
administration units.
 construction cost of water treatment is much higher than
in South Africa
 price of water includes all the cost of treatment and all
other operating cost of the scheme is subsidised at 80%
 The water treatment plant is maintained by the utility
company
 utility company bill the consumer and is responsible for
the collection of debt
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There are currently remote areas which are not
connected to the system due to the costs
associated with the service
 apply technical solutions in the pre-treatment of
waste, to remove grease and sand in order to
extend the capacity and lifespan of the plant
 Control over the project is achieved through
regular reporting from the utility to the
Municipality
 purified water is channelled into the see once it
has been purified
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Management of Solid Waste
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Solid waste is collected from five (5) areas on
the Island, covering 50 500 square meters and
servicing 145 000 inhabitants
 The Island has progressed far in the recycling
processes and recycling of plastic, glass and
paper are separated and compacted for reprocessing
 Waste is exported to various countries and it
includes South Africa, where Glass and paper
are exported to Consul Glass and Sappi Paper
respectively
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Le Port Municipality Reunion
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multi media center were the delegation was
introduced to the different aspects that the
Municipality is followed to educate and inform as
well as to entertain the local community.
 The center consists off a computer room which
give full access to the internet
 section for children where stories are read once
a week on Wednesdays
 has a full musical area were users can take CD’s
home for listening
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