The appeal of a citizen collective "Marseille against PPPs" against a planned PPP project involving the demolition and reconstruction of 14 dilapidated schools located across the city will be heard in court next week.

Three appeals were lodged with the Administrative Court of Marseille: one citizen appeal with the members of the Collective, another from the order of architects and finally the syndicate of architects. For now, the Collective does not know if the latter two will also be presented next week.

The Collective submitted three complete and detailed briefs, aimed at demonstrating that a deliberation of the municipal council concerning the project in October was tainted with illegality due to non-compliance with legal procedure and that the choice of PPP to implement the project is unfair.

Separately, a petition in opposition to the project has reached more than 9,500 signatures. The petition calls for the abandonment of the project and advocates an investigation into the setting up of a fairer, more sustainable alternative project, which it claims would be EUR3 billion (US$3.4 billion) cheaper than privatization. With 500 more signatures, it will eligible for deliberation at the next municipal council meeting.

For its part, the City of Marseille has maintained its decision not to back down to opponents of the project.