Tanger-Tétouan Highway: Despite Expectations, Project Delivery Deemed "Unrealistic" Before 2030

While this update has revived the expectations of deputies from the region, who are demanding a rapid realization to lift the economic isolation of Tétouan and stimulate trade in the north, industry experts are tempering this enthusiasm by judging the delivery of the infrastructure before 2030 as unrealistic.

The skepticism of the specialists is based on the insurmountable weight of the technical and administrative procedures necessary to launch such a project. The first step, consisting of topographic and geotechnical studies to define the route and assess the nature of the soil, requires a period of at least six months alone. This phase is followed by the establishment of the overall budget and, above all, by the expropriation procedures. Paradoxically, the experts point out that while private land follows a relatively rapid process, it is the state-owned land that requires long and complex procedures.

To these incompressible deadlines are added those related to the selection of the executing company, a crucial step that requires several months to launch the tender and evaluate the candidates in order to ensure compliance with technical standards. Finally, the actual construction of the highway would require at least two years of rigorous work. The accumulation of these steps leads observers to conclude that, despite the political pressure for rapid unblocking, the completion of the project before the 2030 deadline seems far from practical reality.