• The mayor of Marseille has announced the implementation of a plan to renovate 174 schools over nine years.

  • The amount of this gigantic project exceeds one billion euros, and will be managed through a company in which the town hall and the State will be shareholders.

  • It is not yet clear how much the state is prepared to invest.

    Benoît Payan is meeting Jean Castex on this Monday afternoon.

According to Benoît Payan, it is neither more nor less than “the biggest project that the city of Marseille has initiated since the 1960s”.

This Monday morning, the mayor (PS) of Marseille presented a vast plan to renovate schools, at the heart of negotiations with the State for several months.

All this, a few days before a new long-awaited visit by the President of the Republic to the Marseille city.

20 Minutes

takes stock of what was also one of the main electoral promises of the Marseille Spring.

How many schools are affected by this plan?

According to the mayor's statements, the plan provides for the renovation and construction of 174 schools, out of the 470 in Marseille.

"This plan is 600,000 m² of work, the equivalent of 100 football stadiums", presents Benoît Payan.

In detail, the mayor affirms that 16 dilapidated schools will be the subject of works before the end of 2022. “Bees, Aygalades, Bouge, Dromel, Saint-Louis Gare, Vayssières, to name a few, lists Benoît Payan.

At the same time, we are going to launch studies for 16 others, such as the Roseraie, National, Pommier or Kallisté.

"

“Everything is phased and thought out,” adds the mayor.

We will have done the work more or less definitively by 2026 in 80 schools.

That's ten schools per sector, five per arrondissement.

We will have completed the 160 within eight to nine years.

As a priority, schools that do not meet health and safety standards will be renovated, according to the deputy mayor in charge of schools, Pierre-Marie Ganozzi.

How is this going to work?

According to the mayor of Marseille, "whenever possible, we will choose rehabilitation rather than deconstruction / reconstruction".

All the renovations will also be part of the ecological transition, with revegetation and waterproofing, for example, of playgrounds.

The town hall of Marseille also wants to become the first community to invest in a predictive management tool for the maintenance of its schools, similar to that used by the Ministry of the Armed Forces.

According to the town hall, this site will create 14,000 jobs and will bring nearly 2.27 billion euros in economic benefits for the territory.

The mayor says he wants to give priority to local craftsmen in the choice of service providers, rather than "the large groups which would bring in posted workers".

To pilot this vast project, the city of Marseille is working on the constitution of a public company, chaired by Benoît Payan and in which the State would sit.

"We are ready," launches the mayor.

Two major options are on the table.

The first is the constitution of a public limited company.

For this, it is necessary to go through the Council of State, since the shareholders will only be public.

We also have the option of the Splain.

I have a preference, but that will be part of my discussions with the Prime Minister.

The mayor of Marseille is indeed meeting Jean Castex on Monday afternoon.

How much does it cost ?

The town hall figures this vast plan at a total cost of nearly 1.2 billion euros. "It's 814 million euros for the total renovation of 174 schools", specifies Benoît Payan, and "208 million euros for the upgrading of all the other schools, in particular on safety, or 533 euros per child and per year, over the next five years. It's 45 million euros for schoolyards. That's 60 million euros to reduce the energy consumption of our school buildings by more than 40%. It is 84 million euros to fit out these new schools with furniture and digital tools. "

Where can we find such a colossal sum, when we know that the finances of the city of Marseille are “catastrophic”, by Benoît Payan's own admission? If the mayor says he is ready to "mobilize all the money possible", from several ministries or from Anru, the city council, who assumes "a political choice", relies above all on state aid.

The problem: at the moment, nobody knows how much the State is ready to invest in the schools of the Phocaean city, despite months and months of discussion on the subject between the Elysee and the town hall of Marseille.

The amount of financial assistance from the state will also be at the heart of negotiations with the Prime Minister, this Monday afternoon.

"I am ready, as of tomorrow, to sign a contract of engagement with the State, I know that it will be at the rendezvous", launches Benoît Payan, in a call of the foot to the airs of warning.

The President of the Republic is expected at the end of the week in Marseille, and could address this issue at the end of his trip.

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