News

Budd’s Casablanca office shares details of the major development plans which were published in the moroccan website "Leconomiste".

Morocco’s National
Ports Agency (NAP) has just adopted an ambitious three-year development and
maintenance program with a budget of 3.1 billion DH (Euros 284,145,000.00).

In 2019, the port of
Jebha in the Tangiers-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region is to be extended and in the
port of Jorf Lasfar, new pipelines are to be laid.  However, it is Casablanca which will benefit
from the biggest spend in 2019.

NAP will accelerate
development of the Zenata dry dock and truck park.  Work on the trucks-only terrestrial North
access route which was supposed to come into service in 2016 is a few years
behind schedule, possibly due to the multiplicity of participants in the
project.

The sea route (NAP)
which goes from inside the port as far as Aïn Sebaâ is almost finished. All
that remains to be done is to link it to the RR 322 at the height of Mimosa Place
to provide access to the Zenata logistic zone via PK. This project has been
carried out by SDL Casa-Aménagement since 2017.

This section alone will
cost 160 million DH (Euros 14,752,523.61) and the funds will be provided as
follows: 85 million DH (Euros 7.763.050) from the Directorate General of Local
Authorities (DGCL), 65 million DH (Euros 599,312.72) from Casablanca town
council, 10 million DH (Euros 922,032.73) from the Prefectoral Council. The
concessioning of the new shipyard of Casablanca and the operationalization of the
ports’ Competitiveness Observatory as well as the reinforcement of the
operational regulation will impact 2019’s budget.

This year will also be
the year of a strong increase 4.5% (90 million tons) in maritime traffic.
Essentially due to phosphates and derivatives exports, coal imports, and the opening
of the new Safi powerplant.

Concerning regulation,
2019 will be marked by the consolidation of the Agency’s terms of reference
through a dynamic approach involving all harbor ecosystem actors.  In terms of budget, the turnover of the
Agency should reach 1.09 billion DH (Euros 100,501,567.00) for 2019, overstepping
the 2018 previsions for a 8.8% increase.

Information provided by Captain Mohammed Lefdali, Budd Morocco

budd.morocco@budd-pni.com