1. Legal and Regulatory Framework
The Ivorian government has adopted several texts aimed at promoting better spatial structuring, securing, and modernizing urban planning and land management. These texts aim to ensure the digital transformation of urban land and the mastery of the entire parcel fabric. They thus strengthen land governance through the simplification, dematerialization, and streamlining of procedures. These include, among others:
- Law No. 2020-624 of August 14, 2020, establishing the urban planning and urban land code. This code organizes and regulates matters related to access to land ownership and urban planning;
- Decree No. 2021-862 of December 15, 2021, creating, assigning, organizing, and operating the Integrated Urban Land Management System (SIGFU). The SIGFU is a computerized and integrated management system for spatial and textual data of urban land, allowing for the complete automation of the administrative act processing circuit;
- Decree No. 2021-785 of December 8, 2021, determining the procedure for issuing the Definitive Concession Order (ACD);
- Order No. 32 of July 5, 2022, regulating the authorization for subdivision;
- Order No. 288 of May 2, 2019, concerning the issuance of duplicates of the Definitive Concession Order (ACD) aimed at filling the legal void that previously existed in case of loss;
- Order No. 289 of May 2, 2019, concerning the issuance of the Property Transfer Certificate, aimed at governing cases of parcel subdivision that have already been subject to an ACD.
2. Urban Planning
The Master Urban Planning Scheme of Greater Abidjan (SDUGA) was adopted by Decree No. 2016-138 of March 9, 2016, and published in May 2017. A partial revision is currently underway;
the master urban planning plans for 30 regional capitals were also developed, approved, and disseminated in 2018;
the detailed urban planning plans for the cities of Bouaké and San Pédro have been completed.
3. Securing the Procedure for Issuing the ACD
To increase the production of the Definitive Concession Order (ACD) and issue secure and tamper-proof acts, the government has initiated the project for the simplification and digital transformation of urban land, through the establishment of an Integrated Urban Land Management System (SIGFU). In this context, the mass titling of urban land parcels is a structuring step of the SIGFU. This involves producing and issuing land titles on a large scale at the time of subdivision approval, thereby effectively reducing administrative formalities to the contradictory demarcation. The implementation of this project is expected to reduce the time for issuing the ACD by 90% and increase annual production capacity to 100,000 ACDs in the Abidjan District, compared to the current average of 15,000.
Source: Ministry of Construction, Housing, and Urban Planning (MCLU)
Addressing and Urban Restructuring
In order to establish a complete addressing system and a unique addressing reference guaranteeing the location and referencing of occupation units on the road network of the Abidjan District, the government initiated the Abidjan District Addressing Project (PADA) in 2018. As of June 30, 2023, street marking and occupation unit identification work is effective in Zone 1 (Treichville, Marcory, Koumassi, Port Bouet), Zone 2 (Plateau, Adjamé, Attécoubé East), and Zone 3 (Cocody and Bingerville).
Regarding urban restructuring, a Project for the Development of Restructured Neighborhoods in Abidjan (PAQRA) was initiated in 2018. It aims to improve the levels of basic urban services (road infrastructure, sanitation, electricity, drinking water, socio-educational and health facilities) in five precarious neighborhoods spread across three municipalities in the city of Abidjan.
Perspectives
At the level of the legal framework, the government plans to consolidate the legal strength of the Definitive Concession Order by reforming the procedures for the preparation, approval, and application of subdivision plans. In this context, it has adopted a draft law amending Law No. 2020-624 of August 14, 2020, concerning the urban planning and urban land code. This draft will be submitted to parliament for final adoption. Furthermore, it has adopted in the Council of Ministers a communication regarding the introduction of "customary use rights certificate" in place of the "customary certificate."
In addition to the legal framework, future actions will focus on:
- the adoption of the revised master urban planning scheme for Yamoussoukro, including the locality of Attiégouakro;
- the development of detailed urban planning plans for the 10 urban units of the SDUGA;
- the development of master urban planning plans for departmental capitals;
- the development of master urban planning plans for departmental capitals (80 localities);
- the delimitation of village territories in the Abidjan district;
- the rectification/regularization of applied and unapproved subdivisions;
- the implementation of the project for the development of five (05) restructured neighborhoods in Abidjan (PAQRA); and
- the implementation of the addressing project for the Abidjan district.