Ben Ali ratifies plan to promote poor districts

Tunisian President Zien El-Abedin Bin Ali ratified yesterday the plan to develop poorer districts known as "regions of shadow" or "El-Zel regions" for the fiscal year 1998/99.

The plan includes the development of the infrastructure in more than 115 regions, where the developed regions would reach 915 at a cost of 750,000 Tunisian dinars. Governmental press reports said that Bin Ali's great concern with the development of poor areas comes within his commitment to the resolutions of the recent conference of the Tunisian ruling party.