The last urban council before the 2026 municipal elections was the occasion for a new debate around the old sea serpent that is the Magna Porta area, on Manduel.
Clearly cases like that of the Magna Porta area should no longer be numerous in the years to come. This project, the first sketches of which were initiated in 2010 with the creation of the new Nîmes Pont du Gard TGV station, has been remodeled over the years to become an activity zone whose size has decreased gradually, in particular, with the need for environmental compensation (when carrying out a project considered to have a negative impact on the environment, compensation zones, such as land sanctuaries, are obligatory). Leaving today, of the initial 160 hectares, only an area of 54 hectares, of which 29 are buildable (the other 25 hectares hosting networks, photovoltaic panels, retention basins, heating network or even green zones).
“A financial fiasco”
This sea serpent was the occasion for a new political contest this Monday, February 2, during the last urban council meeting before the municipal elections; First to draw, the United Left, citizen and environmentalist group, led by Sylvette Fayet and Vincent Bouget. In question, an amendment voted at the very end of the council where several details raised eyebrows from the opposition: “This project, which was to be almost Silicon Valley in its beginnings, now covers less than 50 hectares with the elimination of the commercialization of quadrant 4, pointed out the opposition group before the start of the council. Reproaching a transfer price from the community to the developer, “already sold off from the base”, and rising from €30/m2 at €25/m2accompanied by an increase in costs for the community: “We looked for all the prices for an activity zone, even that of Domessargues and more expensive! After Costières, here is the fiasco of Magna Porta: land sold off and a financial fiasco, with very expensive development for the community.” The left finally regrets poor anticipation of the work already notably linked to runoff already analyzed in 2020 and “a lot of announcement effects on the names of the companies to be set up, but in the end, few concrete things. This file needs to be re-examined, public money is at stake. Here we are in a mess.”
Additional costs
Needless to say, the 83rd deliberation out of the 92 on the agenda livened up the debate. To the point that the president of the assembly Franck Proust chose to interrupt the session to allow Bertrand Pelain, general director of SPL Agate, to explain the various points raised. Mainly criticized, environmental standards and rules which change regularly and lead to additional costs, like the risk of runoff which now requires raising all of the land. Cost of the operation, €3 million. Bertrand Pelain also recalls that quadrant 4 remains a marketing option and should be reinstated within 2-3 years. Cumulative costs that the developer NGE also knows and which explains the renegotiation of transfer prices from 30 to 25 €/m2: “You should also know that it is unserviced land that we are selling, hence a price per m2 which is much lower than for serviced land. assured Bertrand Pelain.
If on the Nîmes Métropole side we do not deny that the operation is far from being profitable for the moment, Franck Proust wanted to conclude with a point on business arrivals (70% of the area would currently be commercialized): “We have an approval committee on February 11 where we will have new company signatures. The data center is already there!“It remains to be seen how many direct jobs, out of the initial nearly 2,000, this Magna Porta area will bring back.
