EIB grants Morocco €420 milion for ports and highways

The European Investment Bank (EIB) and Morocco have signed two loans worth a total of €420 million, aimed at major highway and port infrastructures key to the country’s economic and social development.

An EIB press release said the first loan saw €220 million earmarked for a 172km stretch of motorway from Casablanca to the south-eastern region of Tadla-Azilal, while the second provides €200 million for the extension of the Tangier Med port.

The deals were signed by EIB Vice-President Philippe de Fontaine Vive, who is in charge of FEMIP – the Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership – during his two-day visit to Morocco on 10-11 November.

“The loans extended today for the Tangier Med port complex and the motorway network testify to the EIB’s commitment to stand by the side of the Kingdom in its infrastructure modernisation policy,” said Philippe de Fontaine Vive. “These investments will strengthen the attractiveness of Morocco and favour its economic development. At the same time, I am particularly glad of their direct impact in improving the daily lives of the local communities concerned.”

Development of the Moroccan motorway network

The new stretch of motorway, which should be operational in June 2013, responds to a twin objective:

* To bring closer – in safe and environmentally sensitive conditions – the administrative heartland of the country of Rabat-Casablanca, in order to accelerate the development of the Tadla plain, the High Atlas mountains (Azilal) and the Middle Atlas (Khenifra).
* To promote several sectors essential to the economic development of the country, such as agriculture, agro-industry and tourism. The region being served enjoys substantial natural wealth, with the largest phosphate deposits in the country (Khouribga), a first class agricultural area (Beni Mellal) and the landscapes of the Atlas.



Extension of Tangier Med port

By developing an integrated logistic and industrial complex, just 35km from Tangiers, Morocco aims to offer investors an efficient and modern gateway.

The Tangier Med I project, to which the EIB already contributed €40 million in financing, offers a handling capacity of 3 million TEU (Twenty Feet Equivalent Unit). Tangier Med II will increase this capacity to 8 million TEU through the construction of two new container terminals. The new port will create 5,000 new jobs, with another 20,000 jobs indirectly created.

See our earlier stories on the Tangier Med developments HERE

Tangier Med Port - an update.

A small part of the massive port

As The View from Fez has reported before, the construction of Africa's largest port is underway. The importance of the The Tangier-Mediterranean Project can not be stressed enough. In particular it will enhance the economic and social development of the North Morocco region. Recently we visited the project and can report it is well on the way towards completion.

The situation of the port

It is part of the economic policy orienting Morocco towards exports, based on eight clearly identified export sectors, with particular emphasis on the free trade agreement with the European Union to be implemented by 2012.

Not only does the construction phase, which is now well underway, have an economic impact in the form of job creation, it will also have implications for foreign investment. Its location on the Straits of Gibraltar, at the crossing of two major maritime routes, and 15km from the European Union will enable it to serve a market of hundreds of millions of consumers through the industrial and commercial free zones which will be run by well-known private operators. It will also win part of the strong growth market of container transport and become the leading hub for cereal transshipment, a facility which is non-existent in the north-west African region at present.

Containers being processed

The project is being implemented, coordinated and managed by TMSA, a private company with public prerogatives, operating under an agreement with the State and interacting with the different ministries involved.

A draft loan contract of $180 mln to fund the expansion works of Tanger-Med port was signed in October 2008 for building a second deepwater port, dubbed "Tangier Med II", to meet the growing demand for container facilities at the international level in sea transport. The new port facilities, scheduled to be operational by the second half of 2012, will include two new container terminals with a total length of 2,800 m and an additional nominal capacity of 5 million containers. Final official approval for "Tangier Med II" was received on 7 January 2009, with actual construction started on 17 June 2009.

One of the largest container ships in the world, the Eugen Maersk, at Tanger-Med I

The scope of the project is impressive. The port is expected to reach full capacity by 2015, and to operate 8 million containers, 7 million passengers, 700,000 trucks, 2 million vehicles, and 10 million MT of oil products.