Marseille is committed to renovating 174 schools before 2030

The mayor of the city, Benoît Payan, unveiled the plan at 1.2 billion euros that must remove unworthy school groups. Without knowing the exact amount of state participation.

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surrounded by a good part of his deputies to mark the solemnity of the moment, in front of a blue and white background in the colors of his city, the mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan, presented, on the 11th of October, the contours of his Highly anticipated “school renovation plan”, qualifying the operation of “biggest construction initiated by Marseille since the 1960s”. This plan, which must see its first sixteen sites starting in 2022, concerns 174 schools on the 470s that Marseille counts. And represents a total investment of 1.2 billion euros, over a duration that the head of the Marseille executive estimates “between eight and nine years”, either by 2030.

If it gives priority to the renovation of existing schools, the plan provides for the construction of thirty new school groups. Creations that will come out of the ground “in the sectors where the needs are the most screaming”, assures Pierre-Marie Ganozzi, deputy in charge of the plan. “Marseille is one of the few French cities where the population of primary pupils increases. But some schools are empty while others are in saturation”, note the elected. The Marseillaise municipality sets an objective of 80 schools processed by the end of its mandate in 2026. The 94 other sites being returned after the next municipal.

Elected in June 2020 on a program where the resorption of indignant institutions was one of the priorities, the members of the Spring Marseillais awaited on the matter. The School Scandal, denounced in 2016 by the Libération newspaper, has fallen the end of the fourth term of Jean-Claude Gaudin (the Republicans) and constituted one of the engines of the victory of this coalition on the left, ecologist and citizen, now led by Benoît Payan. A political dimension that the mayor of Marseille does not forget.

“Save the city”

“The school is the first skill, but also the first responsibility of a municipality,” he recalled on Monday morning, making this plan “a political choice, a choice of mandat”. “How could it be accepted that in Marseille under the old agenda, the city could invest an average of 20% less in northern neighborhood schools compared to those of the southern neighborhoods?”, Wonders Mr. Payan, who sees in his project, a tool that must “contribute powerfully” to reduce social inequalities and help “sew the city”. As early as September 2020, the Municipal Council voted an envelope of € 30 million to proceed with emergency work in schools. An entirely consumed amount, which, according to Pierre-Marie Ganozzi, resolved security issues identified in 98 establishments.

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/Media reports.