Roman monuments, transport, bullfighting: the City of Nîmes and the Nîmes Métropole Agglomerate at the time of choice

La Maison Carrée, l'un des monuments romains géré en délégation de service public. MIKAËL ANISSET

Transports en commun, gestion des monuments romains, spectacles tauromachiques… 2024 constitue l'heure des grandes décisions pour la Ville et l'Agglo qui apprécient les délégations de service public.

2024 constitutes a pivotal year, that of changes, for the City and the Agglomeration, at a time of choosing new public service delegates in many areas. It is first of all Nîmes Métropole which will open the DSP ball with, Monday February 26, the choice of the new public transport operator, Keolis, which will have to be validated by the elected officials in the community council . The new contract will begin on July 1 and will end at the end of 2030.

Exceptionally, Transdev, the current delegatee until June 30, 2024, did not apply, cooled by the savings that the initial amount of the new contract, i.e. 44 M' euro;, 8 M€ less than the current one, would ask. Since then, the amount has reportedly been increased to reach €48 million. Which could make Transdev cringe, which might have positioned itself with such a sum.

Lost income

This DSP is not a long, quiet river. An elected official from the Agglo did not fail to confide his disappointment in the management of the end of Transdev's contract… An operator whose shortfall is estimated, according to some, around 16-18 M€, the fault, among other things, of the Covid crisis, of the delay in the deployment of the network. Failing to obtain the hoped-for financing from the Agglo in the context of these contingencies, a procedure initiated by the operator seems inevitable…

The end of the nine-year-long story was also somewhat painful between the City of Nîmes and Culturespaces when the latter lost the public service delegation for the management of Roman monuments to the benefit of ;Edeis whose contract began on November 1, 2021. The next DSP will begin on November 1, 2024 for a period of eight years for a contract amount of 44 M€ excluding VAT.

The candidates submitted their application at the beginning of December for the tourist and cultural operation of the Arena, the Maison Carrée, the Tour Magne and the Maison Saurel located in the Jardins de la Fontaine. Three candidates are in the running: Edeis, the current delegate who wants "to continue to be part of a great dynamic", Kléber Roussillon who has great ambitions for Nîmes based on his experience, notably in the management of the Chauvet II cave in Ardèche, and… Culturespaces who is back in the game… Roman of course.< /p>

They visited in particular the Maison Saurel which the City would like to transform into a place of restoration and entertainment a few steps from the Tour Magne. Everything will be decided, with the auditions in particular, in the coming months.

Surprises

Among the DSPs to be renewed, there is of course that of the management of bullfighting shows. Will Simon Casas Production France be a candidate for his own succession, knowing that the current contract will end on December 31, 2024 ? For the moment, the SCP teams are working on this file and indicate that' They have a few surprises in store… They will have until April 2 to submit their application. Like others who could position themselves.

We think of the delegatee of the Arles arenas Jean-Baptiste Jalabert (to join forces with Simon Casas ?),  but also of the Béziers ticket Margé- Castella. Delegates from the region should also position themselves, perhaps those from the South-West, much less the Spanish. The new contract will take effect on January 1, 2025 and until December 31, 2028. 

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