Infrastructure constitutes one of the main priorities of the development process carried out under the wise leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VIindicated on Monday, the Head of Government, Aziz Akhannouch. Speaking during the monthly plenary session of the House of Representatives devoted to general policy issues, relating to “basic infrastructure as a lever for economic and social development”, Mr. Akhannouch noted that this priority was part of the framework of ‘an ambitious societal project and a clear and global vision based on the balance between the economic and social dimensions, while guaranteeing territorial justice.
Major strategic infrastructure projects represent one of the most salient aspects of the modernization and development experienced by the Kingdom under the reign of His Majesty the King, he added, noting that these projects constitute a lever for all ambitious sectoral and development strategies, thus allowing Morocco to position itself as a leader on a continental and regional scale in this area. In this regard, Mr. Akhannouch recalled that Morocco had occupied first place in Africa in terms of infrastructure development, with a score of 85.8%, according to the African Governance Index 2024, published at the end of last October. . The Tanger Med port now occupies first place in the Mediterranean basin and in Africa as the largest container port, noted the Head of Government, highlighting the major and diversified achievements in the fields of infrastructure, which define the contours of Morocco today and tomorrow.
Significant progress in 25 years
In figures, he mentioned the progress made by Morocco in 25 years in terms of construction and modernization of infrastructure, with a highway network having gone from 80 km in 1999 to 1,800 km currently. The Kingdom also occupies 16th place in the world in terms of density and quality of its roads, with nearly 58,000 km, including 2,164 km of expressways, and a rate of asphalt roads of around 80%. In addition, added Mr. Akhannouch, 2,309 km of railway lines have been completed, including 200 km of high-speed lines and 64% of electrified lineswhile the number of airports increased from 15 in 1999 to 25 today, including 19 international airports spread across the Kingdom. The number of ports has increased from 24 in 1999 to 43 currently, including 14 multi-purpose commercial ports, 22 fishing ports et 7 marinashe continued, specifying that the number of dams increased from 95 in 1999 to 154 large dams currently, with a capacity exceeding 20 billion cubic meters.
Regarding the road infrastructureMr. Akhannouch affirmed that the government was working on the execution of several investment programs concerning double-lane roads, by accelerating the realization of the Tiznit-Dakhla expressway1,055 km long, with its 16 structures, for a total cost of 8.8 billion dirhams. This project will strengthen the socio-economic influence of southern provinceshe indicated. In addition, he indicated that a prospective vision for 2030 had been put in place to notably accelerate construction work on the axis Berrechid-Tit Mellilat a cost of 2.5 billion dirhams, and the tripling of the axis Casablanca-Berrechidspecifying that the planning of the continental highway construction project was carried out Rabat-Casablancafor an investment of 6 billion dirhams, and that linking Guercif to Nador for an investment of 7 billion dirhams. These projects aim to strengthen connectivity in the Oriental region and connect the new port of Nador West Med to the national highway network, with significant impacts on trade and the tourism sector, underlined the Head of Government.
In terms of rail transport, Mr. Akhannouch indicated that the government was working to extend the high-speed line Kenitra-Marrakechover 430 km at a cost of 53 billion dirhams, with a connection to the airports of Rabat and of Casablanca. This line will later extend from Marrakech has Agadir over 240 km, he explained. For air transport, he recalled that the improvement of the airport network, coupled with the implementation of the tourism roadmap, had made it possible to achieve air traffic records with 27.1 million passengers in 2023, compared to 25.1 million in 2019, noting that during the first nine months of 2024, a new record of 24.3 million passengers was recorded, an increase of 19.7% compared to the same period last year.
In the wake of this dynamic, the Executive has developed a plan aimed at doubling the capacity of air transport as part of the 2023-2026 roadmap of the tourism sectorcontinued the Head of Government, adding that the said plan provided for the launch of more than 32 new airlines, offering a total capacity of 250,000 seats. These measures, according to Mr. Akhannouch, have made it possible to reduce the isolation of several Moroccan regions and to give a strong boost to the tourism sector, reaching 14.5 million visitors in 2023, up 34% compared to 2022, and generating 104 billion dirhams in travel revenue. This dynamic was confirmed in 2024, with the arrival in the Kingdom of 15.9 million tourists until the end of November, thus exceeding the total number of visitors from the previous year.
In this context marked by this positive dynamic, the Executive is working to expand the reception capacity of the various airports to reach 80 million passengers by 2030, against 38 million currently, he said, explaining that extension and equipment work was underway in the Rabat-Salé airportsTetouan andAl Hoceima Chérif El Idrissiin addition to developments in the airports of Fez, Tangier, Marrakech, Béni Mellal, Zagora and Nador. And to add that as part of the preparations for the organization of the 2030 World CupMohammed V international airport will be modernized and expanded to receive 23.3 million passengers by this date, noting that this involves the construction of a third runway and the strengthening of the existing terminal with new facilities .
Likewise, the capacity of Marrakech airport will be increased to accommodate 14 million passengers by 2030, thanks to the improvement and doubling of the surface area of its terminal, as well as the extension of the area waiting for planes, argued the Head of Government. Along the same lines, the government will renew Agadir airport in order to strengthen its reception capacity to reach 6.3 million passengers by 2030, thanks to the rehabilitation and expansion of the current terminal, as well as “to improve external infrastructure,” continued Mr. Akhannouch.
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