Morocco Unveils Major Infrastructure Plans for 2022, Boosting Roads, Rail, and Ports

During his speech on Tuesday at the House of Representatives on the examination of the budget, the Minister of Equipment, Transport and Logistics, Nizar Baraka, presented the deputies with the state of the infrastructure works carried out in recent years by Morocco, reports Les Inspirations Eco.

"Morocco has made a significant momentum in terms of infrastructure, which has placed it in the top 20 in terms of infrastructure development and the capture of national and foreign investments, even if we have to admit that the return on these infrastructures has decreased by more than 50%, which shows that the private sector has not been able to accompany the efforts deployed," he said.

On this occasion, he unveiled the projects planned for this sector in 2022, specifies the newspaper, specifying that these projects concern on the one hand the extension of the road network with the continuation of the operations that were the subject of agreements before the sovereign, and which relate to the upgrading of the road infrastructure of the cities for a total amount of more than 1.1 billion dirhams. For this component, maintenance operations will require a budget of more than 1.5 billion dirhams, he specified.

Then, Baraka indicated that next year the government will proceed with the launch of several major port projects, mainly the port of Dakhla Atlantique with a budget envelope of more than 12.6 billion dirhams, as well as the project to extend the protection works of the port of Casablanca for a cost exceeding 1.1 billion dirhams.

In the rail sector, funding is planned for preliminary technical studies as well as the release of the necessary land, in order to ensure the rail connectivity of the Nador-West Med port.

"The start of the project is planned when the financial package is finally stabilized, knowing that the overall cost of the project is estimated at 4.3 billion dirhams," the newspaper reports, according to which for hydraulic infrastructures, no less than 18 large dams are under construction. The construction work on two large dams in the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region was also mentioned.