Introduction

This section presents the profile of the city of Nouakchott. This profile attempts to extract the most important information about Nouakchott and the ASToN project, based on information gathered through a questionnaire and a 2-day city tour. During the city tour, the ASToN team led workshops with the main stakeholders to understand their ambitions and concerns for this project. We also conducted interviews with people in the local authorities and the private sector.

About the city

Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, was created in 1958. Since then, the city has grown from 500 residents to over 1 million. This population growth is largely attributed to the droughts of the 1970s, which drove thousands of nomads to the capital. Because of the speed of this growth, urban planning for the city beyond 15,000 people was not possible. Located on the Atlantic coast Nouakchott hosts a deep water port and is the administrative and economic centre of Mauritania.

About the ASToN member

The Region of Nouakchott is the ASToN member. The law No. 010 2018 relating to the Region established the regions in Mauritania, including the Nouakchott Region. The new region is divided into 3 decentralized regions commonly known as Wilaya: Nouakchott-Nord, Nouakchott-Ouest, Nouakchott-Sud. Each of them includes 3 wards commonly called Moughataa (decentralized system) and 3 municipalities (decentralized system).