Bouregreg Valley Development
The metropolitan area of Rabat-Salé-Témara, the second biggest in Morocco in terms of population and economy, is divided by the Bouregreg Valley. The development of the valley will enable the banks of the Bouregreg river to be reclaimed, providing the agglomeration with a high-quality urban zone. Moreover, it will bring the two towns of Rabat and Salé closer together and help forge new links.
©Bouregreg Valley Development Project
The Bouregreg Valley Development Project is one of 12 urban development projects selected during the Project Identification Phase of the Urban Projects Finance Initiative (UPFI), launched during the last Senior Officials’ Meeting held in Barcelona from 7-8 April 2014.
The Project, which comprises the 3rd Phase of the Bouregreg Valley Development Plan, is the foundation of all urban development in this metropolitan area. It will develop new neighbourhoods for professional and residential use (to help improve social diversity), as well as public amenities and spaces. It will also preserve cultivated land, create natural ecological spaces, carry out reforestation activities and restore water courses that represent a risk of causing gully erosion and landslides. The Project will foster an integrated development approach to meet the area’s current and future needs, including benchmark facilities of benefit to the entire metropolitan area (hospitals, restoration of Chellah). Furthermore, it will deliver effective urban continuity between the two towns and improve road infrastructure, links, and traffic flow between the cities of Rabat and Salé.
The UfM label delivered in March 2015 is in recognition of the exceptional nature of this Project, which is in line with the mandate given to the UfM at the Ministerial Conference in Strasbourg in November 2011. It states that the UfM must foster sustainable urban development with an integrated social, economic and environmental approach that ensures territorial cohesion. It therefore aligns precisely with the UfM’s goal to promote urban development by providing large, protected spaces with plenty of public amenities for the local population, while also providing employment opportunities in a range of business sectors. It meets the metropolitan area’s major urban planning challenge and enables the city of Salé, which currently exemplifies the main risks arising from urban exclusion, to be assessed and modernised. The Project also promotes sustainable urban development that respects the environment, something that is of major concern in the Mediterranean region, especially in coastal towns.
With a total budget of €394 million, the Project is being carried out in conjunction with the public authorities and local stakeholders. It is hoped that it will be an example for other urban conglomerations in the region to follow. Firstly, because of its national importance (it is the first major State-run project in the Mediterranean) and interesting institutional framework; secondly, due to its environmental and economic dimension, as well as its aim to achieve social diversity in this particular phase of the project put forward for labelling. The technical assistance for project preparation will start in 2015 and last up to three years, after which time the implementation phase will start.
About the promoter and partner institutions
The project has the continued support of the highest authorities in the country and has been entrusted to a state-run public body, the Bouregreg Valley Development Agency (AAVB).
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