The Tiznit-Dajla motorway linking central Morocco to the Sahara is almost ready

Work on Morocco's Tiznit-Dajla motorway is expected to be completed soon. This mega-project, which will link the centre of the country with the Sahara, is 1,055 kilometres long and more than 93% of the total has already been built. For the moment, 900 kilometres have already been opened to traffic, as confirmed to Le360 by Mbarek Fencha, the central director in charge of the realisation of this infrastructure. 

This project consists of the doubling and widening of national road No. 1 over 1,055 kilometres. According to Fencha, the last stage of the project consists of the construction of a bridge at the northern entrance to the town of Laayoune. 

This bridge, which will be the longest of its kind in the Kingdom, is 1,700 metres long and has a maximum height of 50 metres in the centre, as well as foundations sunk to a depth of 50 metres into the ground. The total cost of this infrastructure is 1.04 billion dirhams.  

On the other hand, the motorway between Tiznit and Dakhla has a total cost of around 10 billion dirhams and is part of a partnership agreement signed in 2015 between the Ministry of Equipment and Water, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the region of Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra, the region of Guelmim-Oued-Noun, the region of Dakhla-Oued Eddahab and the region of Souss Massa. 

The aim of this motorway is to reduce travel times, avoid road closures following flooding and silting, and facilitate the transport of goods to and from the cities of the South. It also improves their connection to the main national production and distribution centres.