Morocco Loses €12M German Investment as Political Roadblocks Derail 300-Job Factory Project

According to Al Akhbar, the urban agency of Ouezzane-Larache opposed the construction of a factory specializing in the manufacture of electronic motors, a project carried by a German investor, owner of several factories in China, Germany and Eastern Europe. The German industrialist was convinced by a Moroccan residing in Germany to invest in Morocco, particularly in Ouezzane. The project was expected to generate 300 direct jobs for the region.

Thus, the German investor had acquired in 2023 a plot of land of about 3 hectares to set up an industrial unit. The project also included a transfer of skills and planned an estimated annual turnover of 3 million euros, as well as an extension of the activity to other regions of the kingdom. But according to sources close to the file, an influential elected official in the region would have used his connections with a minister to prevent the start of the project. The maneuver consisted in delaying the adoption of the urban development plan of the municipality, thus blocking the reclassification of the land into an industrial zone.

Subsequently, the urban agency of Ouezzane-Larache justified its refusal by the lack of sanitation and drinking water networks in the area. "A justification deemed fallacious by the promoters of the project, since the investor had formally committed to taking charge of all the connection and equipment works, in accordance with the provisions of the urban planning law (article 47), which authorizes the granting of building permits even in the absence of public infrastructure, as long as alternative solutions are guaranteed," writes the daily.

For its part, the local representation of the prefectural authority considered the height of the building, planned at 8.5 meters, to be excessive. A criterion that experts consider arbitrary and contrary to usual practices in industrial areas. Finally, the investor, after a year of unsuccessful administrative procedures, suspended the project.