The NBNT scheme has been on the drawing board for some time and has already attracted the interest of international dredging companies, awaiting the start of the tendering process. The first phase of the scheme covers the creation of a township composed of 17,000 units housing about 60,000 residents, and further townships will be built in the same area in the future to house a total of 100,000 residents in about 26,000 units. A final name for the township has yet to be decided.

A masterplan was recently finalised for the development by a team of French consultants called French Town Planning, led by Partenaires Developpement. The architects are Michel Macary - who designed the Stade de France, France's national stadium - of SCAUand Thierry Melot of AMA Architecture. The engineering advisers are Sogreahfor hydrology and Setecfor roads and services, while landscaping is being carried out by TER.