Two Cities, $225 Million, One Race to Stop Madagascar’s Urban Crisis Deepening

The World Bank Group has approved US$225 million for Madagascar’s Integrated Urban Development and Resilience Project for Jobs, known as PRODUIRE2, targeting Greater Antananarivo and Greater Toamasina. The project is crucial because Madagascar’s fast-growing cities are facing overlapping pressures from cyclone damage, flooding, insecure land tenure, inadequate infrastructure and deepening urban poverty.

Madagascar's cities are becoming the front line of a development crisis shaped by climate shocks, weak infrastructure and deep urban poverty. The World Bank Group's approval of US$225 million for the Integrated Urban Development and Resilience Project for Jobs, known as PRODUIRE2, is more than a financing announcement. It is a test of whether climate resilience can be built into the daily machinery of urban life: housing, drainage, land rights, public services and jobs.

Cyclones Fytia and Gezani caused damages in early 2026 estimated at the equivalent of 3.4 percent of Madagascar's GDP, while extreme urban poverty in Greater Antananarivo has more than doubled over the past decade, even though the capital generates close to 44 percent of GDP. Cities are driving growth, but many residents remain trapped in flood-prone neighbourhoods, insecure housing and informal land arrangements that limit both safety and opportunity.

A city-growth model under climate pressure

PRODUIRE2 targets two urban regions that show different sides of Madagascar's climate and development challenge: Greater Antananarivo, the economic centre, and Greater Toamasina, a coastal hub hit hard by Cyclone Gezani. In Antananarivo, the project will expand investments in flood protection, drainage, solid waste management, neighbourhood upgrading and land administration. In Toamasina, where Gezani damaged 70 percent of the housing stock, the focus will be on rebuilding resilient homes and rehabilitating critical public infrastructure such as schools and health facilities.

This makes the project less a traditional infrastructure package than an attempt to tackle urban fragility at multiple points. Flooding is not only a weather problem. It is also a drainage problem, a waste-management problem, a housing problem, a land-use problem and an investment problem. When these systems fail together, poor households carry the highest cost through damaged homes, lost working days, disrupted schooling and repeated rebuilding.

By 2032, the project aims to provide climate-resilient infrastructure to 1.5 million people, reconstruct 20,000 homes to resilient standards, issue land documentation for 50,000 parcels, and generate about 17,000 jobs. Those targets give editors and citizens a clear yardstick. The central question will be whether the project delivers visible improvements in the neighbourhoods most exposed to flooding and cyclone damage, not only whether funds are committed and works are launched.

The quiet power of land rights

Nearly half of the land in Antananarivo lacks formal titles, a condition identified as a barrier to urban development and investment. The project will support land regularization and digital land services so residents can obtain legally recognized documentation and transactions can be streamlined.

Land documentation is not as visually dramatic as rebuilding homes or clearing drainage canals, but it can shape whether urban resilience lasts. Without clearer land rights, households may hesitate to invest in safer structures. Public authorities may struggle to plan services. Private investors may view neighbourhoods as too uncertain. Residents may remain vulnerable to disputes or exclusion from formal systems.

At least 40 percent of new land documents issued under the project are expected to include women as sole or joint rights holders. If implemented effectively, this could strengthen women's legal and economic security in urban households. But the real test will be access: whether women in low-income communities can navigate the documentation process, whether information reaches them, and whether legal recognition translates into practical control over assets.

Resilience as a jobs strategy, not just disaster repair

PRODUIRE2 presents a broader proposition: that safer cities can become more productive cities. Better drainage can reduce recurring economic losses during rainy seasons. Rebuilt schools and health facilities can restore basic services. Resilient housing can reduce repeated displacement. More secure land documentation can support investment. Jobs linked to construction, upgrading and local services can provide income while the project is implemented.

In Toamasina, the rebuilding task is immediate. World Bank Group Country Manager for Madagascar Atou Seck said families would be supported to rebuild stronger homes, while critical infrastructure and services would be restored and strengthened. He also noted that the University of Barikadimy, which suffered extensive damage, will be fully rebuilt to higher standards. In Antananarivo, he pointed to investments in flood protection, drainage infrastructure including Canal C3 ter and Canal C3 bis, solid waste management and land administration.

If cities can reduce recurrent disaster losses, they may become better platforms for private investment, local enterprise and employment. However, that outcome is not automatic. It depends on whether infrastructure is built well, maintained over time and matched with governance reforms that reach informal and vulnerable communities.

The real test comes with implementation

PRODUIRE2 reflects a long-term partnership between Madagascar's government and the World Bank Group, with support from the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery and the Quality Infrastructure Investment Partnership financed by Japan. These partners will provide technical and analytical assistance to strengthen disaster risk management, urban resilience and infrastructure quality.

The WB Group support gives the project technical depth, but implementation risks remain. Reconstructing 20,000 homes, upgrading neighbourhoods, improving drainage and issuing 50,000 land documents require coordination across agencies, local authorities, contractors, communities and land offices. The project will also need safeguards to ensure that poorer residents are not bypassed by formalization or pushed out as neighbourhoods become more attractive for investment.

The next phase should be judged by delivery, transparency and inclusion. Key markers include the pace of housing reconstruction in Toamasina, visible progress on flood-prone areas in Antananarivo, the quality of rebuilt schools and health facilities, the share of land documents reaching women and low-income households, and whether the promised jobs are accessible to local workers.