Le Figaro Nantes
An engineer to play the firefighter.
The government announced Monday the appointment of Emmanuel Mercenier as ministerial delegate for the redevelopment of Nantes-Atlantique airport to the Ministries of Ecological Transition and Transport.
Announced last week in the Official Journal, the creation of this strategic position marks the emergence of a “Mr. Nantes Airport”, responsible for carrying out this path of the cross that the modernization of the Nantes airport platform has represented for years.
Completing this Arlesienne will henceforth be the mission of Emmanuel Mercenier.
Technician and project manager, the man has seen his share of construction sites.
Coming from the bridges, waters and forests corps, this chief engineer has headed the Mantois Seine Aval public development establishment since 2019, responsible for the development of Mantes-la-Jolie, from development to implementation operations.
On another scale, since 2014, he has also managed the Major Projects section within the Hauts-de-Seine department, a position which saw him successfully complete the delivery of the Paris La Défense Arena stadium and La Seine Musicale, all two inaugurated in 2017.
A “builder” under surveillance
“Emmanuel Mercenier’s experience will be an asset in bringing to fruition this demanding redevelopment project of the main airport in the Great West,”
the Minister for Transport, Patrice Vergriete, communicated on Monday.
The nomination was taken with more caution by the Collective of Citizens Exposed to Air Traffic (Coceta).
“The creation of a position that will make it possible to better coordinate the project and maintain a broad vision of it was something that we sincerely expected
,” notes Paolo Ferreira, president of Coceta.
The technocratic profile of the new “Mr. Nantes Airport” does not, however, reassure him.
“We are sent a builder who risks getting stuck in what is required of him
,” he explains.
We hope that he will find the courage to question the project and renew dialogue with citizens.
But he still needs to have his hands free…”
The Nantes-Atlantique site will be Emmanuel Mercenier's first airport.
The appointment of this technician - supported by Damien Cazé, Director General of Civil Aviation - comes a few days before the completion of the first phase of the second call for tenders for the redevelopment of the platform.
Relaunched on December 15 on new bases, this new procedure - the precise specifications of which have yet to be defined - should lead to the selection of an airport concessionaire.
Its purpose will be to implement its redevelopment, stuck in an impasse since the abandonment of the new airport project at Notre-Dame-des-Landes in 2018. And this, despite the embers regularly blown by opponents of the project.