The CRC provides the Region with its recommendations regarding the NRL
In the preamble, the CRC recalled that the account control and management of the Réunion region, which relates exclusively to the New Coastal Road (NRL), “it was opened by the letter of the president of the chamber sent on February 9, 2021 to Mr. Didier Robert, president of the community since April 2010.” “Checking the management and accounting of the regional accounting chamber refers, in addition to the regularity of management acts, to the economy of the funds spent and the evaluation of the results achieved in relation to the goals set by the community”, starts the Chamber. At the same time, the Court of Auditors conducted a separate investigation into the actions of the state in the NRL project.
The Regional Accounting Chamber stated in its summary that the choice of a mixed solution consisting of an embankment and a large viaduct, which is considered the most economical, “resulted in significant difficulties in the implementation of the project, delays and unavoidable additional costs”. For the jurisdiction, the end of the market on the levees in late 2013 and late 2014. “it should not have been done without administrative access to quarries that have massive rocks in sufficient quantity and quality for the construction of embankments if they had not been better foreseen and prepared”.
With regard to compensation measures for environmental damage, “they are practically not implemented, due to the delay made by the site”continues the House. “Besides the technical complexity of the project, which could justify the already high initial costs for a region of this size, these costs have been revised up to 2021 to more than 2.4 billion euros, but are not clearly presented, nor are they fully covered by the approval of the budget program that was voted by the region of barely 2 billion euros”.
The Council also points to the absence of a provision for risks and charges, and this “despite established risk monitoring”. “At the end of 2021, the Region already found itself with a debt of 1.3 billion euros, including 800 million euros of new loans to finance the NRL, without the completion of this new road, the full opening of which has been delayed until 2028 at best,” it says CRC. She adds: “The selection of a large embankment that was initially the most economical by the region in 2011 has resulted to date, apart from the suspension of construction in 2019 due to the legal unavailability of the materials needed to complete the NRL, with the prediction of exceeding the initial budget of the operation by more than 50% “.
Therefore, considering the reached level of indebtedness of the Inverted Pyramid, CRC believes that the latter has no other choice but to arbitrate. Starting with the operational part of the budget, “essentially at the level of expenditure in order to respect the savings and solvency targets set by the regional authorities and monitored by their donors, or even in search of additional revenues”.
In the end, the Regional Accounting Chamber makes five recommendations for the completion of this project “very strategic under more transparent and better coordinated conditions between its different players” in order to achieve the NRL “safe and respectful of its environment”.
