Rabat’s Takaddoum District Grapples with Surge in Unregulated Street Vendors

The informal sector is gaining ground in the Takaddoum district of Rabat at the expense of the formal sector. While the district has built pilot markets by spending significant budget envelopes for the sedentarization of street vendors, they still refuse to join these spaces to carry out their activities, on the pretext that these pilot markets do not attract customers, reports the Arabic daily Al Akhbar. As a result, they are storming the various areas of the district, occupying the boulevards and roads, moving in carts, tricycles or pick-ups, thus blocking the passage of cars, and even pedestrians. Enough to disturb the peace of the population.

In a correspondence, more than 400 residents, 24 civil society organizations and 15 commercial enterprises call on the wali of the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra region, governor of the prefecture of Rabat, Mohamed Yacoubi, to intervene in order to put an end to the anarchy prevailing in the various areas of the Takaddoum district. They also ask the authorities to reserve well-defined spaces for the activities of street vendors. They also plan to once again seize the local competent authorities, so that they work to eradicate once and for all this phenomenon which is gaining ground in their neighborhood.