Marruecos impulsa el nuevo plan para mejorar las carreteras y autopistas del reino alauí
Nizar Baraka, Minister of Equipment and Water, has announced the approval of a new plan to upgrade Morocco's highways. The board of directors of the Moroccan National Roads Company has approved the budget, which is expected to allocate some Dh3.2 billion by 2022 to upgrade the country's road system. In addition to this, the project is coupled with the aim of achieving a 2 per cent increase in traffic, as well as the intention to entice drivers to subscribe to Jawaz.
Jawaz is a pre-payment method that allows users to drive on roads and pass through toll plazas without having to park and pay again. In turn, they have lanes reserved exclusively for themselves. This is provided by Autorutes de Maroc (ADM), a Moroccan firm that mainly manages more than 1,400 kilometres of motorways in Morocco. They also manage projects that are part of the expansion of future roads and the construction of new ones.
Autorutes du Maroc is part of the new project of the National Roads Company. The company will be responsible for carrying out a series of repairs and improvements to Moroccan roads covering 87 kilometres by 2022. A total of 1.4 billion has been earmarked for them. Their main work will be on the modernisation of the Casablanca-Berrechid motorway, as well as on the Casablanca bypass motorway.
This involves the widening to 2x3 lanes on this road, which will cover a length of 60 kilometres from the Mohammedia junction to the Berrechid motorway junction, via the Lissasfa junction. It is one of the busiest motorways in the Kingdom, so an upgrade of its facilities is key to relieving traffic in the area.
It will also be responsible for the construction of a new road linking the towns of Tit Mellil and Berrechid. In addition to this, the brand is in charge of several projects, such as the installation of beams on the second TEMARA interchange flyover on the Casablanca-Rabat axis; the installation of a metal deck on the railway bridge near Mohammed V International Airport, which is part of the extension of the Casablanca-Berrechid track. It is also carrying out road improvement and reconstruction works near the Berrechid East interchange.
At the same time, the National Motorway Company has taken a further step in the creation of another project, which it has already announced the launch of. Specifically, it is the creation of a radio station called "Radio Info Trafic 107.7", which is dedicated to offering road users, as well as other locations outside Morocco, its broadcasting capacity. It aims to support and strengthen ADM to attract more customers to its business, as well as to inform of the current road situation, traffic information. It is also intended to offer real-time assistance to vehicles having problems or suffering any kind of mishap.
Since the end of last year, improving road connections has been one of the priorities of the Moroccan government and ADM has already announced two other major projects as part of its new national extension programme. These are to connect the new port of Nador West Med with Beni Enzar, the city closest to the port complex, and the construction of a new motorway covering the Rabat-Casablanca distance, which would be capable of relieving and decongesting the traffic on the current road to avoid traffic congestion.
