Rabat – The Moroccan government will spend roughly MAD 600 billion in grants from its Gulf allies by 2035 to revamp the North African country’s infrastructure under the Ministry of Equipment, Transportation and Logistics’ new national strategy.
The massive investment was announced during the first of a set of workshops between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Morocco, which began on Monday and will end on Friday.
An estimated 7,000 kilometers of urban roads, 1,273 km of highways and 24,000 km of rural roads will be built through the development program. The program will also lay 2,743 kilometers of classic rail and 1,500 kilometers of high-speed rail over a 20-year period.
Construction on a high-speed line connecting the coastal cities of Casablanca to Tangier is currently underway, though it does not have the financial backing of the GCC.
Once the program ends 20 years from now, new roads and railways will connect all regions of the country to each other, making key amenities, such as international airports, easily accessible to all Moroccans, the workshop’s attendees say.
Cities like Guelmim and Tantan have been isolated economically and socially because they sit over 700 kilometers or more than eight train hours away from Rabat. This program aims to bring the country closer together to make sure new development spreads evenly across Morocco, instead of being limited to the its northernmost areas.
Morocco will also be able to build a new airport in Marrakesh and expand other related facilities – tripling national air traveller capacity to 90 million passengers by 2035. Six new seaports, seven extensions and five port rehabilitations will revitalize oceanic trade as well.
