For a new administrative capital

The APROFED association is coming back to you this week at the Bourail agricultural fair to submit a proposal implemented in a large number of federal countries, namely that of creating a new administrative capital when New Caledonia becomes a state.

Following the example of cities such as Brasilia in Brazil, Canberra in Australia or Putrajaya in Malaysia, the association proposes to relocate the government as well as the parliament (Congress + customary senate) to a municipality in the interior of the mainland.

The choice to build a new administrative capital separate from the economic capital results from both political and economic reasons.

Indeed, in a federal state, it is crucial to prevent a federated state or region from concentrating too much power. Locating the administrative capital in a new and neutral city helps avoid regional jealousies and shows that the central government is not subject to the influence of a large economic metropolis (here Nouméa). Brasília was built in 1960 to avoid the domination of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, and Canberra was chosen over Sydney and Melbourne to appease the rivalry between these two large cities.

Moreover, large economic capitals are often already saturated in infrastructure, population, and economic activity. Creating an administrative capital elsewhere can relieve congestion in the large economic city and stimulate the development of a less developed region of the country.

Moreover, in large federal states, the economic capital is often located on the coast or at one end of the territory. A central, planned administrative capital promotes accessibility for all regions.

In summary , the creation of a new administrative capital mainly responds to imperatives of political neutrality, territorial rebalancing and urban decongestion.

If at first glance, the association was oriented towards the commune of Poya as a potential choice due to its central geographical position, its land availability, its potential in terms of regional economic development in order to reduce the divide between the North and the South of the territory, the segregationist policy, not to say supremacist, led by the current loyalist MP from this commune leads us to orient ourselves de facto rather towards the commune of Bourail, an essential stopping place for people traveling from the South to the North. More accessible, better equipped and presenting a demographic balance at the ethnic level representative of New Caledonia, the choice of the commune of Bourail thus proves to be a more pragmatic alternative.

If the commune of Poya was initially our first choice due to its current configuration, straddling 2 provinces (departments), classifying it among the 4 communes in France with this particularity, it unfortunately represents at the present time, despite itself, the situation in which New Caledonia finds itself, which some would like to partition as during the Vietnamese conflict with the whites and pro-French on one side and the Kanaks and independence supporters on the other, which is unthinkable for the association.

The work generated by this project would be more relevant for the association than those proposed so far by some of our political representatives in the context of reconstruction, such as the filling of a bay with a view to installing a prison there, moreover opposite the hospital, or a bypass for the St-Louis tribe costing several tens of billions of CFP francs.

We wish you a good read and remind you that federalism is the only solution to reconcile unity in diversity.