The municipality of Boundiali received on Wednesday, October 21, 2026, the studies for its Master Urban Planning Plan and its Local Economic Development Strategic Plan, a roadmap supported by the World Bank aimed at organizing the city’s growth and making it an agro-industrial hub by 2040.
The presentation marks the culmination of work initiated in January by the Sustainable and Inclusive Development Project for Secondary Cities. Funded by the World Bank, it was entrusted to the Urbaplan-BPL consortium following a tender by the Ivorian government.
The system combines two tools. The master urban planning scheme must establish a coherent spatial vision by integrating demographic pressures and climate risks, while the economic plan must identify activities capable of generating income and increasing the attractiveness of the capital of Bagoué.
The economic document, approved by the municipality together with the Regional Council and the State, is presented as a roadmap for selecting interventions, mobilizing funding, and monitoring their implementation. It must notably address the urban sprawl along major thoroughfares and the under-equipment of certain peripheral neighborhoods.
Urbaplan believes that Boundiali’s location, on the route leading to Tengréla and the Malian border, can support a regional agro-industrial hub. The project includes serviced activity zones and commercial facilities to locally process cotton, cashew nuts, mangoes, and food crops.
During the feedback session, the project leaders also mentioned the creation of an institute dedicated to agricultural professions. This institution aims to strengthen local skills and support the transformation of production, with the goal of converting part of the informal employment into more sustainable activities.
Land management remains, however, a central condition. Experts have pointed out that unregulated subdivisions risk reducing the reserves necessary for infrastructure, while the deputy mayor Mariatou Koné has called on residents, officials, and land rights holders to preserve the spaces intended for the development of the municipality.
The next steps involve defining the priority areas for expansion and redevelopment, followed by a mechanism for promoting, financing, implementing, and monitoring the plan through 2040.
