Directly opposite the campus is the Annex, a small residential complex with houses for CAAS employees and guests.
The use of the site by CAAS was preceded by lengthy negotiations. The campus itself is located on the former premises of the Tunisian road construction company Entreprise de Travaux & d’Etude de Projets (ETEP). The company had built eight residential buildings of various sizes for its employees on the opposite side of the road during the construction of Route Nationale 5.
When the highway was finished, there was a discussion about who should own the land. A section with two larger buildings was transferred to the National Roads Directorate. They are now managed in trust by the municipality of Siby. Since 2021, the newly founded school authority responsible for the Mandé, the Center d’Animation Pédagogique (CAP), has been provisionally housed there. The CAAS was very pleased with this, as it facilitates cooperation with the schools in the Mandé. We would like to help raise their standards.
The residential buildings on the site were transferred to the commune rurale of Siby. They leased them to the operator of a small hotel, who was unable to maintain the guest houses in the long term. The generator failed and with it the air conditioning, guests stayed away and the houses fell into disrepair.
As the residential complex is located directly opposite the campus, CAAS was interested in using it and was prepared to renovate and modernize it from the ground up. Despite the promised investment, it took several attempts for the mayor to win a majority in the local council for CAAS to use the site. Some still had a hotel or at least a bar in mind for the site. After almost a year of negotiations, a 99-year lease was signed.
In view of the considerable investment made by CAAS, the rent due at the beginning of each year remained moderate. The existing houses were renovated and connected to the company’s own electricity and water network, and unfinished conversions and extensions were removed.
A partially collapsed wall was replaced and the site was newly fenced in. WSA set the general direction and style of the work, with Metal Sudan carrying out the work as general contractor.
Housing is a major problem in the countryside. If CAAS did not have access to this housing complex, our teachers and managers would have to commute every day and would be absent a lot.
In addition to some large trees, there was a row of strikingly beautiful bougainvillea bushes on the residential complex. Care was taken to protect them during the construction work. They have held up well and have since been supplemented by other trees and shrubs. Today, the complex offers a pleasant green ambience and a quiet and protected space for children to play.
