Marrakech Real Estate Scandal: 200 Investors Left Without Land Titles in Akenza Program

A total of 200 people are still waiting for the final VNA certificate, essential for obtaining land titles. They have acquired land in a rural, agricultural-type commune, i.e. land unsuitable for housing construction. But for the construction of a project intended to generate a local economy, it can be the subject of a reclassification procedure, sanctioned by the issuance of a first provisional, then final certificate of non-agricultural vocation (VNA), indicates l’Economiste.

The Alliances group, the initiator of the project, which is part of this approach, has filed an application for this purpose since June 2019. The commission for recording VNA confirmation requests has given a favorable opinion for the development of this subdivision and therefore the loss of its agricultural vocation. But since then, the buyers continue to wait for the final VNA certificate, essential for obtaining the land titles. No response from the competent administrations to the concern of the collective of owners.

The Akenza project alone, which could generate several hundred jobs for the construction of 200 villas of 400 to 600 m2, is not the first. A similar project, already authorized, marketed and occupied a few hundred meters away. According to some buyers, the file would be blocked at the Ministry of the Interior, just like about sixty other projects developed in the Marrakech region alone by other renowned real estate developers, the newspaper specifies.

The Akenza program, these are lands whose costs vary between 600,000 and 1 million DH depending on the area. Forty owners have already paid the full price and have paid the registration fees to the General Directorate of Taxes. As a result, they are the full owners of their land in the eyes of the tax administration. The other buyers have paid at least a 30% advance.