Five decrees from the Ministry of Agriculture, Hydraulic Resources and Fisheries published in the JORT n°81 of August 11, 2026 concern land operations or delimitation in the governorates of Sousse, Zaghouan and Kairouan.
In Sousse, the State opens the delimitation operations of the hydraulic public domain linked to the Blibane River in three delegations. In Zaghouan, the agricultural land intervention perimeter of Zriba Sud is reduced by 32.02 hectares. In Kairouan, the land development plan for Korâa El Blidat Extension, in the Nasrallah delegation, is officially approved.
These decisions all concern land, but they correspond to three steps and three different procedures. A delimitation of the hydraulic public domain does not produce the same effects as a revision of an agricultural perimeter or as the definitive approval of a land development plan.
Oued Blibane: the delimitation begins in three delegations of Sousse
Three distinct decrees from the Minister of Agriculture, dated August 7, 2026, order the opening of delimitation operations of the hydraulic public domain under the Blibane River.
They concern the delegations of:
- Sousse Ville;
- Sousse Riadh;
- Sousse Jawhara.
In each of the three cases, the technical commission in charge of delimitation must initiate the preparatory operations within a period not exceeding one month from the publication of the decree.
The texts published on August 11 thus mark the start of the procedure. They do not yet constitute the final fixing of the limits of the hydraulic public domain.
A procedure intended to determine the limits of the public domain
The nuance is important.
Opening a delimitation operation does not mean that a general expropriation of the lands along the Blibane River has been decided. But the procedure is not devoid of potential effects either.
Its objective is precisely to determine the limits between the hydraulic public domain and neighboring properties. At the end of the procedure, certain portions of land may therefore be recognized as belonging to the public domain if the delimitation legally establishes this belonging.
The preparatory operations serve in particular to recognize on the ground the proposed limits and to gather the necessary elements before the final establishment of the delimitation.
The decrees of August 7 thus open a procedure whose land-related outcome will occur at a later stage.
Zriba Sud: the perimeter goes from 800 to 767.98 hectares
In Zaghouan, the decision published in the JORT is of a different nature.
An August 7 decree revises the limits of the agricultural land intervention zone of Zriba Sud, located in the Zriba delegation. This zone had initially been defined over an area of 800 hectares. The new decree withdraws from the perimeter parcels representing a total of 32 hectares and 2 ares, i.e. 32.02 hectares.
The area of the intervention zone is thus reduced to 767.98 hectares. The new delimitation is illustrated on the map excerpt attached to the decree.
A change in the perimeter, not an automatic change of ownership
The withdrawal of 32.02 hectares from the agricultural land intervention zone does not mean that these lands are transferred to the State or to another owner. The decree modifies the perimeter within which the agricultural land intervention is exercised.
The definite consequence of the text is therefore administrative and property-related: the parcels affected by the 32.02 hectares withdrawn no longer form part of the Zriba Sud perimeter as it had been initially defined.
The precise identification of the lands concerned results from the map attached to the decree.
Korâa El Blidat: the land development plan is approved
In Kairouan, the procedure is at a much more advanced stage.
The Minister of Agriculture officially approves the Korâa El Blidat Extension land development plan, located in the Nasrallah delegation.
This agricultural intervention zone had been created by a decree of May 2, 2017, which had also opened the land development operations.
The JORT also recalls that a commission in charge of examining complaints and observations concerning the project to reorganize the land met at the Kairouan Governorate headquarters on September 26, 2022.
The August 7, 2026 decree now approves the development plan, consisting of two sheets. It is therefore the culmination of a process started several years earlier.
An effective reorganization of the parcels
The text relating to Korâa El Blidat yields more direct effects than those concerning the Blibane River or Zriba Sud.
The approved plan organizes a new distribution of the properties contained in the development zone. The old parcels are replaced by those allocated under the new plan. Existing rights that remain valid at the time of the operation, notably mortgages as well as certain lease contracts, are transferred to the new parcels assigned as replacements.
The arrangement thus ensures a legal continuity between the old properties and those resulting from the remapping.
Value differences anticipated by the arrangement
The decree also provides for cases where the value of the newly allocated parcel differs from that of the initial property.
A financial difference may then be observed within the framework of the land development operation.
The text notably provides for the settlement to the Agricultural Land Agency of any differences due, and organizes the corresponding guarantees. In the presence of a co-ownership, the rules of solidarity among co-owners are also provided.
The approval of the plan thus constitutes not only a new cartographic representation: it legally organizes the distribution of parcels and the property consequences linked to this reorganization.
Three land operations that should not be confused
The five decrees published in the same JORT could give the impression of a single land operation conducted simultaneously in several regions.
The reality is different.
In Sousse, the delimitation procedure of the hydraulic public domain of the Blibane River begins. The final limits remain to be established.
In Zaghouan, the perimeter of Zriba Sud is revised: its area shifts from 800 to 767.98 hectares after the withdrawal of 32.02 hectares.
In Kairouan, the land development process is much more advanced: the Korâa El Blidat Extension plan is now approved and organizes the new distribution of parcels.
The generic term of “land” thus covers three legally different situations: determining a public boundary, modifying a development perimeter, and reorganizing agricultural properties.
The JORT of August 11 thus highlights three different moments of public land action, from the opening of a delimitation to the approval of a reorganization plan that has already passed through several administrative steps.
