Urban Development Master Plan (SDAU 2040)

The Urban Development Master Plan (2040), or Schéma Directeur d’Aménagement Urbain (SDAU 2040), is an urban masterplan that guides the urbanization in Nouakchott City by 2040¹. The city has been facing issues of sprawl, traffic congestion, and inadequate municipal infrastructure². The project seeks to address rapid urbanization challenges through urban planning tools and sustainable development principles, while also enhancing the capabilities of agencies responsible for urban planning and execution^{3 i}.

Published in 2018⁴, the masterplan covers the whole area of Nouakchott City, now encompassing 1,129 km. It estimates that the population of Nouakchott will increase from 958,000 in 2013 to 2.2 million in 2040⁵. The planning process has relied heavily on extensive stakeholder engagement, with 2 large scale seminars and 27 public consultations in the communes⁶. It focuses on key pillars to guide the master planning process. These include issues related to urban sprawl, mobility, environmental vulnerability, access to municipal services, public health, green spaces, culture and religion, economic growth, governance, housing, and the identity of the capital⁷.

In order to adequately address the concerns associated with rapid urbanization, the plan defines three major core concepts for development. These include⁸:

• Strengthen the existing structure of the city, by enhancing the provision of urban services.
• Focus on compact urban development.
• Improve existing urban areas, in line with stakeholder recommendations.

The plan also addresses issues of sprawl by prohibiting the building of structures in areas vulnerable to flooding and other environmental threats⁹. In the efforts to densify urban areas, the plan is sensitive to the social and cultural norms of the city, and ensures existing low-density housing characteristics are not overhauled across the city, but rather the identity of the city is maintained¹⁰.

The plan is designed for implementation through 4 major phases, outlined below¹¹:

• Phase 1 (2019-2025) “Preparation”: Focuses on using existing urban spaces and prioritizes building in the outer ring road¹².
• Phase 2 (2026-2030) “Exploration”: Explores urban regeneration with the development of the New Tarhil neighborhood and establishes large-scale housing within the ring road. It also involves completing all Planning Land Use (PLU) for Nouakchott and advancing legal frameworks to support urban planning¹³.
• Phase 3 (2031-2035) “Maturation”: This phase strengthens governance between state and communes, initiating urban renewal in selected city areas, and preparing for significant infrastructural projects like the Sebkha-El Mina canal¹⁴.
• Phase 4 (2036-2040) “Renewal”: The final phase launches widespread urban renewal projects alongside the construction and implementation of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems, modernizing the city’s public transportation¹⁵. It marks the culmination of the master plan with a focus on enhancing mobility and urban infrastructure¹⁶.

The plan also proposes Local Plans of Urbanism (PLU). These are legally binding plans to restrict regulations and contain detailed zoning controls and regulations for the administrative area of one Commune selected during the Project (Tevragh Zeina Commune)¹⁷. The plan is geared towards enhancing living standards and promoting sustainable urban growth while providing a replicable model for areas without PLU¹⁸.

The master plan project was initiated in 2016 by the Government of Mauritania, specifically the Ministry of Housing, Urban Planning and Regional Development (MHUAT) and the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport (MET), as a revision and expansion of the intervention area of the earlier SDAU 2003¹⁹. The Government relied on the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), which outlined a comprehensive plan for the project²⁰. The master plan was approved by the Council of Ministers in 2019 and will be embedded in the planning regulations to be implemented under the oversight of MHUAT²¹.