Morocco’s World Cup 2030 Expansion: Elite Properties Face Expropriation in Rabat

A project to widen several strategic road axes will be implemented in Rabat. This primarily concerns Mohammed VI Avenue, in the Souissi district which houses several embassies, as well as residences belonging to prominent Moroccan and foreign personalities. The objective of the project is to modernize the network of major axes of the capital according to international standards. However, its implementation requires the expropriation of several real estate properties.

The local authorities have already initiated expropriation procedures targeting several real estate properties located on the extension route. Among them, properties belonging to personalities of national and international stature, such as Yassine Mansouri, the heirs of the late General Hamidou Laanigri, and major businessmen such as Hassan Bensalah, president of the Holmarcom group, as well as the businesswoman Hind el Achchabi, whose property had already been the subject of a judicial freeze.

These measures also affect the property of former officials such as Leyth Zniber, Ali Mohamed Ghannam and Saad Hassar, as well as Asma Lamrabet, wife of the Moroccan ambassador to Washington, properties belonging to Gulf princes, including Sheikh Tamim Ben Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, and the late Emirati Prince Hamdan Ben Mohamed Al Nahyane. Not to mention the properties belonging to the embassies of major powers such as the United States, Russia, the Netherlands, Poland, Kuwait, among others.

The vast agricultural lands of more than 7 hectares located in Bouznika, on the planned route of the high-speed line that will connect Mohammédia to Benslimane, near the Mohammed V stadium in Casablanca, belonging to the family of Driss Basri, former Minister of the Interior, are also affected by these measures.