Land in port cities is a sensitive and potentially conflictive topic, every hectare allocated to port expansion, housing, industry, or public space is a hectare unavailable for something else. As climate pressures and urban growth intensify these trade-offs, this session will explore planning frameworks that allow port authorities and cities to negotiate land use collaboratively rather than competitively.
A statistical engineer, Patrice Barthélémy MELOM took charge of the ambitious Kribi industrial-port complex project in 2012. He led the project until his appointment in 2016 as the first Chief Executive Officer of the Port Autonome de Kribi (PAK).
A senior public-sector official, his distinguished career has led him to hold strategic positions from which he has overseen public policies in transport infrastructure.
Following the launch of commercial operations at the Port of Kribi in 2018, he successfully led the expansion project that doubled the container terminal’s capacity, enabling it to become the country’s leading terminal in 2025 in terms of cargo volumes handled.
Today, Mr MELOM is spearheading Kribi’s transformation into a major logistics hub on the Atlantic coast of the Gulf of Guinea. This includes developing an Integrated Industrial Zone supported by a strategic 15,000-hectare land reserve, along with several projects aimed at diversifying traffic, including minerals and hydrocarbons.
Mr Patrice MELOM also holds a postgraduate diploma in Public Management (DESS). From the outset, he understood the need to reconcile operational-performance requirements with sustainable-development priorities, thereby fostering strong synergies among the key stakeholders in the port-area ecosystem.
Born on 30/10/1966, Laurence BORIE-BANCEL graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Ingénieurs de Génie Chimique in 1989 (INP Toulouse). She began her career in 1989 at Gaz de France’s Production and Transport Directorate (Engineering and Expertise Centers), where she worked on various gas infrastructure projects in France and internationally, notably as a business engineer and project manager. From 2004 to 2008, she led, for Gaz de France’s Electricity Directorate, the development of various power-generation assets, including combined-cycle gas plants and renewable energy projects, mainly in France. In 2008, as head of the Business Development Oversight stream within GDF SUEZ’s France Energy division, she assessed and supported major investment projects before they were presented to senior management. In 2012, she became Deputy CEO of La Compagnie du Vent, responsible for the development of onshore and offshore wind projects, as well as solar projects, mainly in France. At the end of 2015, she took responsibility for the operation of ENGIE’s thermal assets in several European countries, including France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Greece. In 2018, she was appointed CEO of Elengy, an ENGIE subsidiary operating its LNG import terminals in France. In 2019, she became a Director within ENGIE’s Global Business Unit for Thermal Power, Hydrogen & Energy Supply, in charge of strategy and development, operational excellence, and reducing the CO2 footprint. At the end of September 2021, she joined the Management Board of CNR, of which she became Chief Executive Officer. She was appointed Chair of the Management Board by decree of the President of the Republic on 17 December 2021, following her hearing before the economic affairs committees of the National Assembly and the Senate. On 9 May 2023, she was reappointed to CNR’s Management Board for a five-year term and proposed to take its chairmanship. After the same process before the committees, her mandate was renewed by decree on 17 July 2023.
Re-elected as city councillor for the Montcalm-Saint-Sacrement district in Québec City in November 2025 for a second term, Catherine Vallières-Roland is deputy mayor and a member of Quebec City's executive committee responsible for major economic projects, workforce and innovation, industrial parks, international relations, and relations with First Nations.
She represents the Communauté métropolitaine de Québec on the boards of the St. Lawrence Economic Development Council, the Québec Region consultation roundtable for an integrated management of the St. Lawrence as well as the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative. She also presides over the Maritime Committee of the Union des municipalités du Québec.
With a Master's Degree in Political Science from Université Laval, her studies and work have taken her to Geneva, Paris and Barcelona. In addition to French, she is fluent in English and Spanish.
From 2004 to 2021, Catherine Vallières-Roland held various positions at the Ministère des Relations internationales et de la Francophonie. She contributed to the development of relations with countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia-Pacific, as well as with the United States. She was also entrusted with the mandate to promote and oversee the implementation of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in the Digital Environment at UNESCO. From 2018 to 2021, she was team leader for human rights and indigenous affairs. In this capacity, she represented the Québec government at the United Nations.
Gonzalo Le Dantec is a lawyer and has completed postgraduate studies in Criminal Procedural Law and Environmental Management. He has extensive experience in both the public and private sectors, particularly in the fields of environmental, maritime, criminal, labour, administrative and regulatory law. Throughout his career, he has served as an adviser to the Valparaíso Regional Presidential Delegation and has held the posts of Provincial Governor of Valparaíso, Regional Ministerial Secretary for Energy and Regional Ministerial Secretary for the Environment for the Valparaíso Region.
He has also worked as a lawyer in various public services, as a public defence counsel, as a consultant and as a lawyer in private law firms. He currently serves as chairman of the Valparaíso Port Authority, as well as acting as a consultant and manager at Total Risks Consulting SpA.
Tom Daamen is Associate Professor Urban Development Management at Delft University of Technology and Director of the Dutch Foundation for Area Development Knowledge. He is a researcher, speaker, and academic consultant in strategic urban development projects, particularly in port city waterfront zones. To this end, he combines and synthesizes knowledge from real estate development and finance with insights from the fields of urban economics, governance, planning, and design. In Delft, dr. Daamen leads a research group that focuses on public-private partnerships in the delivery of complex and large-scale spatial re/development projects. He is an acknowledged international expert on development strategies for waterfront zones and evolving port-city relationships. He leads academic research projects and provides advise to port authorities, property developers and government bodies.
