Faced with an aging network and growing needs, SONEDE is preparing a national modernization program. More than 59,000 km of pipes are affected, with significant investments in Greater Tunis, the South and the interior regions. Objective: reduce losses, secure supplies and adapt the country to water stress.
An aging network that requires an urgent response
During a conference organized by IACE in Tunis, the CEO of SONEDE, Abdelhamid Mnaja, presented the broad outlines of a strategic program for the renewal and modernization of the drinking water network planned for the period 2026-2030.
According to him, the state of the network requires massive intervention: 14,000 km of pipes are over 50 years old, and more than half of the system is over 30 years old, while the national network today extends over 59,000 km.
For Mnaja, this is a “national project” requiring considerable funding in order to improve efficiency, reduce losses and strengthen the resilience of the system in the face of the water crisis.
Greater Tunis: 500 MD for an intelligent network
The heaviest project concerns Greater Tunis, where a project to improve technical and energy performance is being set up with the African Development Bank (AfDB). The cost: 500 million dinars, for a launch planned for 2026.
The program includes:
- The installation of 130,000 smart meters to instantly locate leaks.
- The creation of a centralized operating room, allowing real-time management of consumption and flows.
- Energy optimization in order to reduce the operating costs of a network saturated by strong urban growth.
Sfax, Kébili, Tozeur and Ben Guerdane: a second project of 330 MD
A second component will be deployed at the end of 2026 in three governorates – Sfax, Kébili and Tozeur – with a water transfer system to Ben Guerdane. Budget: 330 million dinars.
This project also provides:
- The installation of 150,000 additional smart meters;
- Reinforcement of pipes in order to limit losses and improve continuity of service in regions regularly affected by outages.
A third axis centered on the southern governorates
A third project, in the preparation phase, will concern seven southern governorates, for an investment estimated at 230 million dinars.
It aims to:
- Strengthen macro-metering to precisely identify areas of high consumption;
- Rebalance flow rates between high and low zones;
- Improve the efficiency of a network that is still very fragile in the South-West.
Desalination, between necessity and national strategy
Abdelhamid Mnaja also recalled that desalination is now an essential component of Tunisian water security.
Since the 1980s, Tunisia has been developing the sector via 15 groundwater desalination stations, capable of producing 110,000 m³/day, distributed between Gabès, Gafsa, Ben Guerdane, Djerba and Kerkennah.
Added to this are three seawater desalination stations, totaling a production of 200,000 m³/day.
The share of desalination in national supply will increase from 6% in 2023 to 35% by 2030, marking a strategic turning point in water management.
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