Casablanca Cancels 700-Bus Contract, Seeks New Supplier for Public Transport Upgrade

The president of the Intercommunal Cooperation Establishment "Al Baida", Imane Sabir, justifying this decision, indicated that the prices proposed by the successful bidders exceeded the estimated costs established by her structure, which are 550,800,000 DH for each of the first and second lots, with 270 standard buses each, and 576,000,000 DH for the third, composed of 160 articulated buses (accordion buses).

To ensure an impeccable transport service for the city of Casablanca, the ECI has signed a new contract with the company Alsa Al Baïda, a subsidiary of Alsa Maroc.

According to Médias24, this new contract came into effect on November 1, 2019 and concerns an initial phase called the initiation phase, which runs from November 1 to December 31, during which the new delegatee will operate with 250 buses taken over from the M’dina bus company, in a highly deteriorated state, following the termination of its contract.

The same source reports that Alsa Al Baïda will have to gradually import, until February 2020, 400 used buses already purchased, which will be operational in Casablanca by the end of the current month.

It is also planned from 2021 the deployment of a fleet of 700 new buses, jointly financed by the ECI and Alsa, given the experience in the market of this subsidiary and its group.