The Regional Chamber of Accounts points to unreliable data, poorly valued buildings and rising rental expenses for the island’s leading land owner, the Department of Reunion.
Publi-Information 
With nearly a million square meters of buildings and 100,000 hectares of land, the Department of Reunion has an extraordinary real estate portfolio. The community, which alone represents 40% of the Reunion territoryhowever, does not fully master its management. In a report, the Regional Chamber of Accounts (CRC) notes numerous shortcomings, between late real estate strategy, increasing rental expenses and persistent delays in the maintenance and upgrading of its buildings.
There area of the island of There Meeting being of 2 512 km2 (either 251 200 hectares approximately), thes 100 000 hectares of land detainees by THE Department represent SO approximately 40 % of there area of the island. © worldmap.net
While it has 424 built sites, the Department of Réunion spends more than 4.8 million euros per year on office rentals and condominiums. To accommodate its own services, its rental costs increased from 2.7 million euros in 2020 to 4.4 million in 2024. At the same time, data relating to its assets remains “incomplete and unreliable“. The real estate strategy dedicated to offices was only validated in June 2025; a step forward, but which comes late, according to Frédéric Leglastin, president of the CRCwho believes that “action is going in the right direction, but it is late“.
Buildings occupied for free, almost 80 years after departmentalization
Around a hundred buildings belonging to the Department remain occupied free of charge by the State. Two thirds of the goods appearing on a list established in 1948 have still not been regularized, almost 80 years after departmentalization. However, for Frédéric Leglastin, the lack of valorization of heritage is not exclusively the responsibility of the community. “On the one hand, there is a lack of active management, of valorization of heritage“, he admits, before qualifying: “It’s not all the department’s fault.“, Who “does not immediately have, in any case, the enjoyment or direct use of the property of which he is the owner“.
THE Department, chaired since 2017 by Cyrille Melchiorfor his part contests the reading of the chamber. In his written response attached to the report, the elected official regrets “a partially updated reading of the heritage situation“. According to him, the findings made “do not fully reflect the current reality or the progress made“, as part of a “profound and continuous transformation” of departmental management.
Accessibility: only 2.4 million euros of work carried out out of 78 million planned
The CRC also points to the accumulated delays in bringing public buildings into compliance to accommodate people with disabilities: of the 78 million euros of work scheduled between 2017 and 2026, only 2.4 million have been carried out. The results are not more brilliant as far as colleagues are concerned, it is even particularly worrying since of the 186 buildings concerned, only three were brought into compliance.
The delays do not spare historical or tourist sites, with direct consequences on their state of conservation, such asformer Félix Guyon hospital, in Saint-Denisappearing among the buildings concerned. The room alerts on the “deterioration of buildings“, which risks making future interventions heavier and more costly because “sin the tropics, buildings deteriorate very, very quickly“, warns Frédéric Leglastin. The president of the CRC insists on the financial consequences of this inertia: “these are very, very significant additional costs” for the future.
The old hospital Félix-Guyon, has Saint-Denis, has open his doors in 1899 on THE site of the old Camp Ozoux, Before of become mon of the main establishments hospital of the island. Rebuilt At beginning of 20th century, he preserves of this era A together architectural outstanding, notably her flag in drink has two levels, lined of galleries And supported by of the columns in cast iron, Who testifies of the techniques of construction adapted At climate tropical. The hospital has stopped her activity in 1957, with the opening of new establishment of Bellepierre, leaving behind him A heritage Today property of Department And registered At title of the monuments historical since 2000. © Zinfos974
Departmental heritage management does not only concern buildings. Thus, at the Léon Dierx departmental museum in Saint-Denis, 778 objects and works remain missing, including drawings by Auguste Rodin and Victor Hugo.
At the end of its audit, the Regional Chamber of Auditors made six recommendations that the Department must apply by the end of 2026. The objective is to straighten out the management of a considerable heritage, part of which is classified as a UNESCO world heritage site.
© immokap.fr
