Morocco Pushes Forward with Highway Projects Despite Pandemic Revenue Loss

The work to deliver the ongoing construction sites is accelerating, despite the loss of turnover estimated at 437 million dirhams in the first half of 2020 recorded by the sector. In the same vein, toll revenues have fallen. However, priority projects have been maintained and are progressing. During the lockdown period, the drop in traffic was a boon to accelerate the work. "On the Casablanca-Berrechid axis, we are ahead of the initial schedule thanks to the mobilization of workers during this period," said Omar Sikkal, CEO of ADM project, the technical subsidiary of the company, interviewed by L’Economiste.

Tripling of lanes, new toll booths, interchanges, pedestrian bridges, raising of existing bridges, these are the works being carried out on the Casablanca-Berrechid axis, which is moreover the first section of the Casa-Agadir and Casa-Mellal motorway. The construction of a bridge is important, for the north-south transit that also connects the economic capital to Mohammed VI airport. Among the priority projects is the widening to 2x3 lanes and the Casablanca ring road which had started in 2016 with a budget of around 400 million dirhams. The widening project mainly concerns high-traffic motorway sections, divided into 4 lots over a total of nearly 57 km (from Ain Harrouda to Berrechid).

Still with the aim of improving the operation of its motorway network, ADM has initiated a toll system that allows users to make the journey without stopping and to switch from the closed toll to the current open system. A project that was delivered in five months, with the creation and maintenance of 110 jobs in the midst of the health crisis.

As for electronic toll collection, it constitutes a particular mode of payment that exceeds the others. Thus, with a motorway network of 1,800 km frequented by 400,000 vehicles per day, the operator has just exceeded the milestone of 1 million Jawaz Pass users. But this does not mean that the thousands of agents working in the toll booths have lost their jobs. The project offers new professions including toll driver, main traffic manager, maintenance driver, commercial driver, security driver for goods and many other choices to which the agents will be assigned, says L’Économiste.