Madagascar launches new drive to upgrade urban settlements Antananarivo, 20 April 2006 – Prime Minister Jacques Sylla of Madagascar has launched a national programme to upgrade informal settlements and prepare sound urban development with the support of UN-HABITAT and the United Nations Development Programme. He announced the plan at a seminar 20 April attended by regional leaders, mayors, municipal administrators, banks, NGOs and civil society representatives. Urban dwellers currently constitute some 30 percent of the island nation’s total population of six million people. It is estimated that Madagascar’s cities will accommodate 10 million more people in the next 20 years. The national programme jointly supported by UN-HABITAT and UNDP will build on pilot projects implemented in major cities. He said it would also include the decentralization and simplification of urban land management, the establishment and improvement of financial mechanisms and operational instruments, and the reinforcement of local government’s capacities to develop and implement local programmes and projects in partnership with the private sector and local communities.