Morocco’s Highway Expansion Plan Stalls as Contract Negotiations Drag On

The weekly La Vie Éco, which has devoted a dossier to the subject, states that the new program contract intended to follow the previous one, which expired in 2016, should introduce several innovations, particularly in terms of financing investments (Public-Private Partnership option) and opening up capital to institutions and private capital. However, the negotiations started that same year have not progressed so far, thus causing a lack of visibility for the public company. One of the sticking points is undoubtedly "the refusal of the ADM to give in to the slightest concession, particularly on the operation of its motorway network," informs the weekly.

Indeed, the introduction of private financing would force the ADM, according to La Vie Éco, to give up a significant part of its profitability generated by the operation of the network. This leads the media to write that "the company will have to impose a remunerative and recurring profitability". However, it indicates, "the good dynamics that the public company is gradually regaining, with improving financial results, have convinced the top management not to give in".

The ADM certainly has interesting projects that allow it to display noble ambitions, the most important of which is to invest 1.46 billion dirhams this year to expand its network, which has already reached 1800 km. However, the same source points out, the company can no longer rely solely on the financial support of the State.

Therefore, it will have to find "a financial arrangement taking into account, at the same time, its level of indebtedness, its commitments in terms of investments, the schedule of achievements, the financial interests of the entities that could participate in the financing and also its own profitability," observes the weekly.