Rabat’s Controversial Avenue Expansion: Luxury District Faces ’Highway’ Transformation

The project to widen Mohammed VI Avenue, in the Souissi district, one of the most important and symbolic thoroughfares, where embassies and luxury residences coexist in a peaceful atmosphere, is far from unanimous. In the eyes of Omar El Hayani, this project is a "stupidity". To support his argument, he explains that the avenue currently has six lanes (2x3), and that millions have been spent on its rehabilitation in recent years. For the municipal councilor of the Federation of the Left, the addition of two new lanes would only turn it into a "highway right in the city center", which will pose risks for pedestrians, people with disabilities and cyclists. "Wouldn’t it be better to transfer the widening budget to the streets of Témara or Salé, which are still living in another century?" questions the elected official.

Furthermore, El Hayani does not approve of the way the evaluation commission is handling the expropriation operation of several hectares of land belonging to dozens of citizens, on Mohammed VI Avenue in Rabat. The commission has set the price per square meter at only 100 dirhams, he revealed, describing this amount as "derisory". According to his explanations, this amount in no way reflects the true real estate value of the area, where the price per square meter on Mohammed VI Avenue reaches between 4000 and 5000 dirhams. This assessment "goes back to a mentality of the 1960s," he denounces, stressing the blatant contradiction within the administration. Indeed, the tax authorities themselves require owners to pay high taxes if they sell their real estate at a price lower than the actual market value.

The councilor urges the aggrieved owners to go to court to obtain an increase in compensation.