Page 45 - U4SSC Factsheet, Bizerte, Tunisia, June 2020

Goals and Projects for a Smart and Sustainable Future

Bizerte’s smart sustainable sister city goals will align with the Digital Tunisia 2020 National Strategic
Plan. The plan aims to develop a digital governance and system for Tunisia's industrial and commercial
sectors, and to build on the entrepreneurial culture and ICT-based innovation capability in Tunisia. It
focuses on four strategic pillars, as explained by the African Development Bank (AfDB):

• Infrastructure: Aimed at generalising access to broadband internet and knowledge, and the
development of ultra-high-speed internet.
• e-Governance: Aimed at transforming government services through the use and adoption of digital
technology to enhance the efficiency and transparency of operations for citizens and the business
community.
• e-Business: Aimed at transforming businesses through digital technology to enhance
competitiveness, productivity and integration, as well as making innovation the driving force of the
digital industry by developing creative and functional solutions that support all sectors of activity
and entrepreneurship.
• Smart Tunisia: Geared towards placing Tunisia among the top three countries in Offshoring as well
as making it the Leader in IT Offshoring in the African-Middle Eastern region. This applies directly
to Kairouan, as – along with Bizerte – it is one of Tunisia's two ITU smart sustainable aspiring cities.

The African Development Bank has agreed to fund a large portion of the project via a loan over the
next 19 years as part of the 2063 Agenda for the Transformation of Africa.

A key organization spearheading the effort locally is the Bizerte 2050 Association. Its focus is on
maximising the city's smart sustainability progress within a general 2016–2021 five-year plan framework.
This is to be followed by road maps every decade until 2050. The Association will help the city and
region's stakeholders to set a long-term direction by, in part, leveraging private investments to attract
further public investments for Bizerte's SSC initiatives and projects.

The current and future smart sustainable city projects in Bizerte span a variety of areas, for example,
from health service delivery to water supply efficiency, from effective waste management to smart
infrastructure.

Irrigation and Agriculture Improvements

One such project is being financed by the World Bank, which, in May 2018, announced a USD 140
million project to support the Tunisian Government’s focus on irrigated agriculture as a means of
managing scarce water resources while creating economic opportunities, especially in underdeveloped
rural regions. The project's aim is to finance the repair of irrigation systems, in order to make them
more efficient and reliable as the critical input for a more productive agriculture sector that generates
greater revenues and provides opportunities for a diverse range of people and enterprises, including
women and young people.

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