Casablanca to Overhaul Parking Management as City Terminates Underperforming Contract

Elected officials have expressed their dissatisfaction with the results achieved by SDL Casa Baïa. As part of the implementation of the Parking Plan (PDS) approved by the municipal council, the company should equip 45,000 spaces with parking meters, a paid service that should generate annual revenues of 6 million dirhams and nearly 35 million dirhams in turnover. But to date, only 15,000 spaces are equipped with 800 parking meters.

"Parking is not part of Casa Baïa’s core business, focused on sustainable development, waste management, cleanliness, etc.," explains an elected official to Le360. Faced with this underperformance, the city council has decided to terminate Casa Baïa’s contract regarding parking management. This termination will be formalized during the second session of February, we are told.

"The experience of the SDL has shown its limits. The elected officials are moving towards the adoption of a delegated management model for the spaces equipped with parking meters," indicates Hossine Nasrallah, vice-president of the Casablanca municipality, in a statement to the press. For the time being, Casa Baïa will continue to provide this service, pending the finalization of the procedure for selecting a new manager. This transitional phase will be the subject of a new contract that will be approved by the Council.

In addition, the mayor of the city, Nabila Rmili, in a circular addressed to the heads of districts of Greater Casablanca, has prohibited the issuance of authorizations to parking attendants in order to put an end to the anarchy of the "yellow vests". "Today, you won’t find a single car guard who has an authorization anywhere in the Casablanca territory," observes Hossine Nasrallah.

New authorizations will be issued to compliant persons, based on criteria defined in a specification. "Priority will be given to former authorization holders considered as social cases. Still, we need to agree on a precise definition of a social case," Nasrallah said, adding that "parking attendants and parking meters can coexist. Casablanca has a total of 800,000 spaces while the PDS only covers 45,000." Statements that suggest a generalization of parking meters throughout the city of Casablanca.