Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has brought back to the forefront the project to create an industrial railway system in Morocco, after three years of stalemate.
The King has publicly called on the competent government sectors, the Ministry of Equipment and Transport and the Ministry of Trade and Industry, to put this project at the top of priorities.
In a speech addressing the Moroccan people on the occasion of the 44th anniversary of the Green March, he said: “I invite the authorities concerned to give serious thought to the development of a rail link between Marrakech and Agadir, as a first step before extending it to the rest of the southern regions."
"We should also expand the road network, which I am seeking to further develop through the construction of the Agadir-Dakhla highway," he said.
The project of the Industrial Railway System dates back to 2015, when the National Railway Plan was developed in accordance with the directive announced by King Mohammed VI, in his speech on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Green March in November 2015.
The railway plan aims to increase the number of cities linked by train, from 23 to 43, by 2040, giving priority to the Marrakech-Agadir line, then Tiznit in the south, to the Mauritanian-Moroccan border.
The 2040 rail plan also proposes linking 12 Moroccan ports to the railway network instead of the current 6 ports, and linking 15 Moroccan airports instead of the one current airport, Mohammed V Airport.
The plan’s investment cost is estimated at 400 billion dirhams ($42 billion).
