The mayor of Saint-Ouen Karim Bouamrane (PS) takes over the management of the Société du Grand Paris

He was the big favorite to succeed Olivier Klein (DVG) and his election was a formality.

Karim Bouamrane (PS), 49, was elected on Thursday as head of the Société du Grand Paris (SGP), unanimously by the members of the supervisory board.

The mayor of Saint-Ouen therefore takes over from his counterpart in Clichy-sous-Bois, Olivier Klein, who became Minister for the City last July in the government of Elisabeth Borne.

Created by the State in 2010, the SGP is the political body and the contracting authority of the Grand Paris Express, this public transport network which is to revolutionize travel on the scale of the Ile-de-France metropolis.

Its main mission is to manage its deployment and funding.

Read alsoGrand Paris Express: how is work on your line progressing?

Around 200 kilometers long, the Grand Paris Express is the largest infrastructure and development project underway in Europe.

It includes the opening by 2030 of four new automated metro lines (15, 16, 17 and 18) around Paris, as well as the extension of line 14 to the north and south.

Chance or sign of fate, it is in Saint-Ouen that "the biggest project of the century", according to Karim Bouamrane, began to materialize, with the opening in December 2020 of two new stations, "Saint-Ouen" and “Mairie-de-Saint-Ouen”.

"The Grand Paris Express is the embodiment of the Republican ideal"

The mayor of the city, also vice-president of the departmental council of Seine-Saint-Denis, welcomed his election with "pride, responsibility and humility".

None of his four predecessors – André Santini (UDI), Jean-Yves Le Bouillonnec (PS), Patrick Braouezec (PCF) and Olivier Klein – had been elected unanimously.

"This is proof that we are in a serene working atmosphere", welcomes the person concerned.

In addition to its chairman, the supervisory board of the SGP is made up of 11 representatives of the State and nine elected officials, namely the president of the regional council of Île-de-France Valérie Pécresse (LR), the mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo (PS) and the presidents of the departmental councils of the region.

Karim Bouamrane was appointed as a member by a decree dated October 17th.

Matignon's will, he confirms: "the Prime Minister's office wanted to appoint a mayor in tune with the reality of the challenges of the Grand Paris Express, in line with my predecessors".

With this new cap, the mayor of Saint-Ouen intends to "change the lives of Ile-de-France residents, while respecting ecological issues".

"We can see it in Saint-Ouen: the arrival of line 14 has been a vector for improving people's lives, whether for city-work journeys or for access to places of culture or training. , he illustrates.

The Grand Paris Express is the embodiment of the republican ideal, accessibility through opening up, the freedom to choose one's life.

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