Établissement Public d’Aménagement en Guyane

Inception date :

31 October 1996

Number of inhabitants :

157,000

Number of jobs :

Developer :

EPAG

County :

Guiana

Urban/rural planning in an overseas county

Guiana is located 7,000 kilometres from France. It is the largest French county, with a surface area that represents one sixth of the size of France, 92% of which is virgin forest. The rest is coastland, where 80% of the population reside, 54% of whom on the island of Cayenne.

The current housing situation in Guiana is a cause for great concern due to a considerable shortfall in the provision of homes and structuring public facilities. This shortfall has been increasing because of the high rate of population growth: the population currently totals 157,000 inhabitants, but is doubling every 15 years, owing to a high rate of immigration and to a high birth rate. Guiana also faces a problem of overcrowded and even insalubrious homes (estimated at 6,000
units, the number of which is growing steadily). The production of formal housing is very inadequate compared with the needs of the population. Slums and squatter buildings have been spreading. The urban planning objective is to meet the short and long-term needs for infrastructure facilities, which in turn will help meet housing needs, clear slums and reduce squatting.

At the request of local elected officials, the government issued an order establishing the EPAG development corporation in October 1996. However, it really started operating in 1999/2000. Today, it has a heavy workload in its dual capacity as an urban and rural planner and as a land control manager.

Another task the EPAG has to perform is the processing of applications for the allocation of agricultural land in Guiana. In cases where the state has conceded land to the EPAG that the latter had previously developed, it is entitled to allocate such land directly to the applicants. This process allows the EPAG to set up the infrastructures that allow agriculture to be developed and homes to be accommodated in a rural environment.

EPAG is conducting over a hundred land development projects planned for the period extending from 2003 to 2006, of which around 20 in Cayenne and Macouria, around 15 in Roura and Matoury, and around a dozen in Saint Laurent du Maroni and Mana.The total cost of these projects is estimated at approximately 60 million euros. This should be covered by various sources: public funds, the European Union, the state, the regional, county and town councils, and the municipal districts of Guiana. Some 20 of these rural development projects were initiated before 2002 and they cover around 18,900 hectares of land.

Housing-related projects are likely to allow the construction of 2,500 homes a year (both for multi-family and singlefamily occupancy).