Casablanca Residents Demand Action on Illegal Street Vendors

Exasperated by the cluttering of alleys and streets by carts and street vendors, and the unsanitary conditions caused by these merchants, the residents of the Moulay Rachid neighborhood are crying out in frustration. Due to these street vendors who sow chaos and disturb the peace of the residents, many families are considering moving to other neighborhoods of Casablanca.

To put an end to this anarchy, the local authorities have developed an emergency plan that includes the construction of markets. "We have already proposed to the Casablanca municipality five sites in the Moulay Rachid neighborhood for the construction of model markets in order to put an end to the expansion of street vendors in the streets and alleys," confides an official to the site Al3omk.

He will add: "We have found a plot of land belonging to the State (state-owned land) in sector 2 of the Moulay Rachid neighborhood, precisely on Fqih Mohamed Essamadi Avenue. This project will be submitted for approval at the regular session of the municipal council. This is just the beginning to limit the proliferation of anarchic street vendors."

The official notes that "the liberation of the public domain occupied by street vendors in the Moulay Rachid neighborhood falls under the jurisdiction of the local authorities and not the municipality," stressing the difficulty of expropriating privately owned land to build model markets.