Dar Bouazza Beach Businesses Face Eviction Threat Over Public Land Use

"Two weeks before Ramadan, we received a notification ordering us to vacate the premises within 15 days," confides the owner of a restaurant in Dar Bouazza to the Le360 website. At the end of February, the governor of Nouaceur, Abdallah Chater, sent a formal notice to seven restaurants and private beaches in irregular occupation of the public domain on the Dar Bouazza corniche. These are Sunny Beach, Baya Beach (Les 3 Mâts), Seven Beach Balboa 1, Malibu Beach (Nomade Beach), Atlantic Boulevard, Taloche and Babaloo Beach. Since then, nothing has happened. No operation to free the maritime public space has been carried out by the local authorities. "We all stayed there. No one came to ask us to leave," confirms the manager of a restaurant met on site on Friday, June 21, 2024. It seems that they would have decided to maintain the status quo until the end of September, in order not to undermine the summer season "which generates the largest part of the annual turnover." A possible cessation of activity would therefore have a negative impact on their businesses as well as the staff of these companies, which employ more than 400 permanent and seasonal workers.

Since 2018, the seven private beaches and restaurants installed on the Dar Bouazza corniche have been illegally occupying the maritime public domain, as their contract has not been renewed. These are contracts supposed to be regularly renewed for a period of 10 years. "By renouncing the renewal of the contracts, the local authorities want to reserve the right to ask us to leave the premises at any time. This moment has arrived in February 2024," ironizes the same manager. He denounces a "flagrant" lack of communication in the administrations concerned, including the Ministry of Equipment and Water to which the maritime public domain is attached. Would the absence of an operation to free the maritime public space be the prelude to a vast development project on the Dar Bouazza corniche, as part of the Kingdom’s preparations to host the 2030 World Cup? The question remains unanswered.