Development Plan 2026-2030 Enters Parliamentary Review Phase
The Development Plan 2026-2030 project has officially entered its review phase in Parliament. During a session that brought together all permanent committees, the Minister of Economy and Planning, Samir Abdelhafidh, presented the major orientations of the strategic document, which includes over 40,700 proposed projects across the country. While the government defends a "realistic and achievable" plan, several deputies expressed reservations about its content, financing, and ability to produce genuine economic change.
Debate Opens at the Assembly of People's Representatives
The debate opened on Tuesday, June 30, at the Assembly of People's Representatives (ARP). According to the minister, this is the first plan developed using a bottom-up approach, built from needs expressed at the local and regional levels before being consolidated at the national level. Samir Abdelhafidh indicated that elected councils proposed 40,748 projects, distributed among local, regional councils, and the five district councils. After a selection process carried out by the Ministry of Economy in coordination with the Ministry of Finance and sectoral departments, the portfolio was reduced to 6,467 ongoing projects and 14,624 new projects. Their financing will rely on the state budget, public enterprises, public-private partnerships, and external financing.
Priorities and Financing
The minister specified that already mobilized credits amount to nearly 25 billion dinars, to which could be added 5.5 billion dinars currently under negotiation. The government presents this document as the roadmap for public policies for the next five years. The announced priorities include a more balanced regional development, modernization of the economic fabric, reinforcement of infrastructure, food, energy, and water security, environmental protection, as well as the modernization of administration and improvement of public services' efficiency.
Criticisms and Concerns
However, the parliamentary exchanges revealed several criticisms. Deputies estimated that the plan primarily favors local projects without sufficiently integrating large national projects capable of durably transforming the Tunisian economy. Others regretted the absence or low representation of projects deemed priorities in certain constituencies, calling for better consideration of regional needs to reduce territorial disparities.
Requests for Clarification
Parliamentarians also requested more precision on the resources intended to finance new projects. They noted the lack of information regarding financing sources, impacts on the state budget, performance indicators, and mechanisms for monitoring execution. Several interventions recalled that the previous development plan had achieved a realization rate of less than 40%, estimating that the success of the new program will depend primarily on its effective implementation.
Calls for Administrative Reforms
Deputies further called for accelerating administrative reforms and the adoption of awaited texts, notably the Exchange Code, to improve the business climate and support investment.
Minister's Response
In response, Samir Abdelhafidh recalled that the Development Plan is first and foremost a strategic document defining the state's major orientations and not a detailed inventory of all projects. He assured that the selected projects were chosen according to objective criteria and that budgetary constraints impose the establishment of priorities. The minister confirmed that financing will rely on the state budget, public enterprises, public-private partnerships, and external financing, while specifying that these partnerships will be framed to preserve national sovereignty, particularly for projects considered strategic.
Next Steps
The parliamentary work on the Development Plan 2026-2030 project will continue on Wednesday, July 1, with a new session dedicated to examining the document.
