Rabat – Citic Dicastal, a global company specializing in manufacturing aluminum alloy parts for wheels inaugurated its second plant in Kenitra, north of Rabat, on Monday, November 25.
The group invested €350 million to complete the 30,000-square-meter project. The project seeks to create over 1,200 job opportunities.
The new plant will feature “advanced technology,” enabling it to produce “premium products, as well as a range of larger rims,” Maghreb Arab Press (MAP) reported.
Having attended the inauguration ceremony, Morocco’s Minister of Trade and Industry Moulay Hafid Elalamy said that the plant positions Morocco in a “high-tech industry.”
Citic Dicastal’s new plant is the second of its kind after it inaugurated one in June in Kenitra.
The second plant, for Elalamy, “is an example of the successful Moroccan-Chinese cooperation in the industrial field and is part of the implementation of the Chinese government’s initiative called ‘One Road, One Belt.’”
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The plant is also part of Morocco’s industrial acceleration plan to promote its domestic industry.
Commenting on the investment, the Moroccan official emphasized that the Chinese company is one of the “largest state-owned industrial groups in China.”
He remarked that the first plant of the company is operational and serving customers in Morocco, the US, and Europe.
The ambassador of China to Morocco, Li Li, said that Citic’s project in the North African country is one of the largest investments of Sino-Moroccan cooperation.
Dicastal Morocco Africa General Manager Badr Lahmoudi also commented on the inauguration of the new plant, stating that the group “aims to consolidate its achievements and implement a human development strategy, in close collaboration with teams in China, to support Moroccan talents and skills.”
He said that the company will launch the recruitment phase “as soon as possible.”
The company has several key customers, including Volkswagen, BMW, Renault-Nissan, Chrysler Automotive, Peugeot, and Toyota.
It has 30 production units in Europe, North America, and China, with an annual production capacity of 60 million wheels and 110,000 tons of engine and chassis components.
