The Minister of Equipment and Housing, Salah Zouari, revealed that “the government took, at the end of 2024, the decision to charge the Ministry of Equipment to negotiate with a Tunisian-Saudi company for the realization of the Taparura project”.
In a statement to the press, on the sidelines of the inauguration of the Mediterranean Salon of the “Medibat” building, in its 18th edition, organized by the Chamber of Commerce and Industry from May 21 to 24, 2025 at the Sfax Exhibition and Congress Palace, Zouari said that “this high-performance Tuniso-Saudi company started studying the Taparura project, and should submit its offer during the second semester The current year, in order to launch the implementation ”.
The Taparura project is a vast urban development program launched in the 1980s in Sfax, aimed at the retraining of an old industrial site polluted in a modern, attractive and sustainable urban area. It takes its name from the former Roman name of Sfax: Taparura.
Since 2010, the project has faced successive blockages due to governance, land transfer, skills conflict between public actors and lack of political decision.
Regarding the belt road project connecting the north and south of the city of Sfax, which includes three sections, the minister indicated that “for the first section, starting from Sidi Mansour, the contract with the public company which was responsible for it was terminated. A new call for tenders will be launched next July, with a planned start to work before the end of 2025. Their completion is hoped for 2026 ”.
As for the second section, he said that “the work, entrusted to a Tunisian company, is carried out 80 %, and should end before the end of December 2025”.
As for the third section, 1.2 km long and located in the city center of Sfax, the government member indicated that “despite the delays due to land appropriation, coordination is underway with the governor of Sfax and the structures concerned by the land questions of the project. Several land has been transferred, and the work is expected to start next July, for a finalization scheduled for 2026 ”.
