Report Reveals Safety Concerns in Morocco’s Deteriorating Highway Network

Entitled "Temporary Exploratory Mission on the Société Nationale des Autoroutes", this report prepared by the Commission on Infrastructure, Energy, Mines, Environment and Sustainable Development of the House of Representatives notes the "degraded state" of the highways, which complicates life for users. "The length of the network and the lack of resources for maintenance have left many sections in a degraded state requiring speed reduction, such as the Fès-Taza section, as well as the lack of maintenance programs to keep up with the increase in traffic on the network," the document states.

The parliamentary report also notes a lack of lighting on the majority of highways, as well as the halt in network expansion since 2015. It also addresses "the lack of cleanliness and cleaning products, the lack of health prevention and safety requirements at the various toll stations," denouncing in addition "the proliferation of street vendors in the rest areas, the lack of security and the bad smells due to the discharge of water from trucks transporting fish, as well as the many dangers such as the abundance of hay-carrying trucks using the highway at night, the entry of animals and the narrowness of the passages used by the Royal Gendarmerie and customs controllers".

The report also draws attention to the "insufficient number of toll booths, especially during holidays and weekends, which causes congestion at the stations and disrupts traffic". The major challenge facing the national motorway company of Morocco remains the organization of the 2030 World Cup, alongside Spain and Portugal. This "global event will make our country a destination for the nations of the world. It is therefore imperative to provide a modern infrastructure that reflects the reputation and history of Morocco, while introducing advanced technologies to assess the state of the highways and accelerate their maintenance," said the chairman of the parliamentary mission that produced this report.

In this perspective, Autoroutes du Maroc will continue the ongoing construction projects, in particular the "construction of the 30 km Tit Mellil - Berrechid motorway at a cost of 2.5 billion dirhams. The objective is to allow users coming from the north and west and heading south of the Kingdom to avoid crossing the entire city of Casablanca, thus reducing the journey time, easing traffic and ensuring fluidity on the Tit Mellil - Sidi Maârouf, Sidi Maârouf - Mohammed V Airport axes, as well as the project to build the 59 km Rabat - Casablanca continental motorway at a cost of 6 billion dirhams, in order to improve the level of service offered to users of the Rabat-Casablanca motorway and prevent any future congestion".