Morocco Allocates 3 Billion Dirhams Annually for Critical Road Maintenance

Speaking on Tuesday during the oral question session at the House of Representatives, the Minister of Equipment, Transport, Logistics and Water, Abdelkader Amara, indicated that "the national road asset has exceeded 300 MMDH and the fact of not maintaining it would be a loss for the country". In addition, the cost of regular maintenance of the road network reaches 250 million each year, the ministry specifies, stressing the determination of its department to strengthen the achievements of the road maintenance sector, or even increase investments related to the construction of new roads.

Moreover, "the works of extension, construction and rehabilitation of the road network to meet the growing needs of road traffic cost about 54% of the annual budget allocated by the ministry to roads," said Amara, according to whom some problems such as those related to innovations that require changes in programming and financing, hinder the ministry in its desire to work for better results. Regarding municipal roads that should reach 33,000 km, the local authorities, in partnership with the ministry and the stakeholders concerned, are doing their best for regular and quality maintenance of the road assets in rural areas.

In addition, achieving the necessary balance between road network maintenance, road asset protection and the construction of new roads represents a challenge that the ministry intends to take up, even if there is a problem related to the special fund for financing road projects, which concerns fuel revenues whose price increase negatively impacts the budget allocated to the road network, Amara stressed.