The 240 companies of Malaria will they be permanently protected from floods ? In any case, this is what the containment system currently being created in this Fréjus activity zone, which extends over 30 hectares.
The project has been carried out since 2011, first by the City of Fréjus, before responsibility was transferred in 2014 to the Estérel Côte d’Azur urban community. It follows the floods of 2010.
Flood: “Some companies are no longer able to obtain insurance”
« Losses for 2010 amounted to 34 million euros. But since then the area has been again flooded seven times. So much so that some companies are no longer even able to obtain insurance! », explains Gilles Longo, vice-president of Estérel Côte d’Azur Agglomération, in charge of major works.
He specifies that the companies established in the area “ generate 300 million euros in turnover each year ».
The works which have just entered their implementation phase were therefore urgent. The Argens Mixed Union, designated delegated project owner, is in charge of this project, which will last 33 months.
La Palud: a system made up of two dikes
The containment system must protect the entire area against flooding from overflows of the Argens and its tributaries (the Vernède, the Compassis and the Petite Garonne), up to a flood equivalent to that of 2010.
A dyke-road was specially designed to adapt, in the north, to the RDN7 road project. This protection solution which “ comes straight from Holland » consists of two dikes. It provides for a spillway at their junction, which will allow, in the event of exceptional flooding, to control flows, and also for various hydraulic works, including a pumping station.
A project carried out within the framework of the PAPI
The total cost of the work amounts to approximately 25 millions d’euros HT. Carried out as part of the Flood Prevention Action Program (PAPI) for Argens and coastal Estérel, the project benefits from funding from the Major Natural Risk Prevention Fund (FPRNM) known as the Barnier fund ( 7.8 million euros); from the Green Fund (1.8 million euros) and the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur Region (1.9 million euros).
As provided by law, compensatory measures avoidance, reduction and compensation, began in 2023 to make the site as least impactful as possible for the environment. The European pond turtle has been given a whole area of the Villepey ponds in Saint-Aygulf. Made up of four ponds with a total surface area of 4,500 m² with nesting areas, this space also includes three underground passages connecting the Villepey ponds to the Conservatoire du Littoral land and an anti-crossing wall on the embankment on either side of the D7 road.
