Morocco Unveils Plan to Modernize Ports, Boost International Competitiveness

After the vote on law 71-18 on port police, the parliamentary report of the Infrastructure Commission within the House of Representatives, has drawn up a roadmap that adapts the national ports to international requirements. Thus, "the legal arsenal governing the ports will have to be updated in order to adapt it to the standards applicable at the international level," the deputies said, stressing the establishment of ecosystems in the ports and the diversification of services, "which will be able to create development hubs contributing to the increase in GDP," reports Les Eco.

The deputies also formulated the need to "revise the port strategy so that it can be aligned with the expected objectives," according to the report. In this framework, several commitments have been made by the government. Among others, the reorganization of the sector around the new ports of the country. The international normative system will be applied to the ports of Morocco, "with the main objective of safeguarding this sector which has great socio-economic importance".

These new measures will allow the port authorities to collect all the information relating to the ships, and to strengthen the services rendered, in order "to avoid the entry of ships that create legal problems or that cause environmental degradation", not to mention the improvement of the revenues of the services rendered by the ports, through good traceability of operations.

Regarding the land use policy, it will take into account the major ports of the country, mainly at the regional level. The deputies also set up a small committee whose role is to examine the new legislation on port security.