CODATU note on urban mobility projects in Madagascar and the ‘Zotra Fitaratra’ pilot project

Summary: The political situation in Madagascar has interrupted presidential transport projects (cable car, train). CODATU was not involved in these projects and instead promotes the development of minibuses, in particular the Zotra Fitaratra project. It invites the new authorities to put what already exists into service and to clarify governance and financing.

Since 2023, CODATU has been working in Madagascar on a pilot project to professionalise Taxi be in Antananarivo (local paratransit), better known locally as the ‘Zotra Fitaratra’ (‘Model Line’) project. This involves the launch of a line of around ten modernised minibuses on the Iarivo ring road. This demonstration project for a new bus system has been divided into several components, including studies, decision-making tools, training and workshops. The first Greater Antananarivo Mobility Forum was organised in April 2024 with the support of the local CODATU team and was a great success.

The preparatory work has been completed and the project is currently at the decision-making stage by the public authorities. Since 21 October 2025, this project has been temporarily suspended due to the current political situation in Madagascar.

In this context, the CODATU Association would like to provide the following information and clarifications:

• CODATU proposed the launch of this pilot project to the state authorities because we believe that improving the minibus system (‘Taxi be’) is a priority for mobility in the capital. Indeed, the 7,000 Taxi be minibuses transport more than 1.5 million passengers daily in Antananarivo, without public subsidies and in difficult conditions. It is therefore the most widely used form of motorised transport in Antananarivo. Improving this system through professionalisation will therefore significantly improve the daily lives of residents. We hope that this suspension will be short-lived and that the competent authority will take the necessary decisions to see the demonstration through to completion.
• CODATU has deliberately remained outside the following presidential projects initiated in recent years: urban cable car, urban train, and Ville Nouvelle. In particular, during a mission in 2019, CODATU drafted a spontaneous opinion on the cable car project, which concluded as follows: ” four cumulative reasons make the cable transport solution seem unrealistic in the current state of the mobility system in Antananarivo.”

In early 2025, the Malagasy government decided to purchase 12 electric buses and 300 diesel minibuses from Foton as part of a project to renew its vehicle fleet and modernise its public transport system. CODATU was not involved in this decision and deliberately remained outside the discussions related to the project to operate the 12 electric buses. As for the use of the 300 diesel minibuses, the public authorities decided that the ten or so buses required for the ‘Zotra Fitaratra’ pilot line would be part of these new minibuses.

Today, it seems to us that, with the cable infrastructure and buses already in place, it is important to try to make them useful to the population rather than leaving them abandoned.

• At the April 2024 Forum, CODATU highlighted to the responsible authorities the two main areas essential for significantly improving urban mobility in Greater Antananarivo: (1) clarifying the governance of mobility by deciding who is responsible for what in Greater Antananarivo and (2) establishing sustainable financing, based, for example, on the reintroduction of a vehicle tax, to subsidise the various modes of public transport and finance the strengthening of the authority in charge.

Antananarivo and other major provincial cities are facing growing urban mobility problems that have a significant impact on daily life, the health of residents and the country’s economy. Realistic solutions exist, but our analysis is that the essential prerequisite is to make progress on governance and financing, issues that require decisions at the highest level of government. We therefore invite the new authorities to take these decisions and are available to discuss them.

Signed: 28 October 2025, CODATU General Delegate, Jean-Jacques Helluin