Since June 14th, the portal “Open Data” offers to the public contracts that link ETAP and the State to Tunisian and foreign hydrocarbon operators. Other equally vital actors in the energy and mining sector however are absent or nearly so.

Since June 14th, the portal “Open Data” offers to the public contracts that link ETAP and the State to Tunisian and foreign hydrocarbon operators. Other equally vital actors in the energy and mining sector however are absent or nearly so.
The article presents the situation in Kasserine, but in fact the water problem and challenges are common in most of the countries in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region. Water scarcity is one of the most urgent issues and binding constraints for food security and agricultural development in these countries. Let us look at some striking numbers published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO):
After Kairouan in the center of the country and Sejnane in the north, we set out for Kasserine, where the rate of access to potable water for the majority of delegations throughout the governorate is less than the national average, a fact which exacerbates the plight of vulnerable and poor segments of the population with limited access to potable water at best, and nothing more than contaminated drinking water at worst.
Two recent reports—Bardolet’s May 2014 overview for Dii and Cessat’s June 2014 analysis for GIZ—evaluate the present framework that governs renewable energies in Tunisia and recommend reforms conducive to opening the sector to foreign investment and collaboration. Both studies conclude that current regulatory measures pertaining to—particularly STEG’s—energy management are rigid, restrictive, exclusive and elusive, and that the imminent incorporation of provisions for «business models» as Bardolet discusses, or «foreign private operators» in the words of Cessat, of renewable energy projects is advisable.
The economic and development potential associated with Tunisia’s natural wealth are a pull for foreign investors in the exploration and extraction of hydrocarbons, desalination of sea water for consumption, the preparation and maintenance of natural heritage sites for tourism, and perhaps most recently, the production and exportation of solar energy.
n Tunisia, the prominent actors and agents of democratic transition and the national media landscape that are so often the topics of Nawaat’s investigations—including the ATI, the ATT, the HAICA, whistleblowing platforms, freedom of expression and the right to information, transparency, the engagement of civil society—are also the foundation and driving forces (along with several important institutions mentioned below) of the vast and dynamic realm of Information and Communication Technologies.