Morocco launches an action plan to promote decent housing

The Moroccan government has set itself the goal of dismantling slums, improving the living conditions of hundreds of thousands of families and promoting social justice through the "Cities without slums" initiative.

According to the Minister of National Territorial Preparation, Construction, Housing and Urban Policy, Fatima Al-Zahraa Al-Mansouri, this new action plan is linked to the implementation of a five-year programme for 2024-2028 aimed at eliminating the remaining slums and enabling their residents to obtain decent housing.

Before the Interior, Territorial Communities, Housing and Urban Policy Committee of the House of Representatives, Al-Mansouri highlighted the challenges related to the implementation of this programme, such as the high cost of development works that require the contribution of other agencies, in addition to the difficulty of mobilising property and opening areas for development where public real estate exists for the benefit of the programme.

However, the government is willing to overcome all these challenges to provide the necessary support to the initiative, reducing disparities in Moroccan society and improving the living conditions and standard of living of citizens and combating social exclusion.

Despite this, measures and procedures are insufficient to tackle the slum phenomenon, notes Al-Arab. The Arab newspaper highlights, for example, the absence of an adequate legal framework to combat slums and the ineffectiveness of prevention methods, as well as limited mechanisms to produce social housing for underprivileged families.

The Supreme Audit Council, a constitutional institution, announced in its recent report that the 'Cities without Slums' programme failed to achieve its main objective of eliminating slums in 85 cities.

This initiative, launched by the Moroccan government under the directives of King Mohamed VI in 2004, is one of Rabat's priorities, as it is considered a constitutional right and a pillar of the social state. Indeed, 'Cities without slums' receives special attention from the monarch because of its role in reducing social disparities.

So far, the programme has already served 347,277 families by the end of June 2024, according to Minister Al-Mansouri, who also said the ministry is working to reduce the proliferation of shantytowns.