An already existing dynamic toward sustainable mobility 

Over the last decade, the Government of Morocco has developed a national policy to improve urban mobility and to address the current and future challenges of Moroccan cities. The maturity of the planning process is therefore already at an advanced level in Morocco. In 2013, the organisation of a National Day for Urban Transport (JNTU) was the opportunity to relaunch the public debate concerning the challenges of priorities of urban mobility policies. The creation of a new financial mechanism (Fonds d’Accompagnement aux Réformes du Transport) and the empowerment of local authorities in the context of devolution, contributed to a redefinition of the national strategy. In 2016, the “MobiliseDays” conference in Rabat highlighted the need for an evolution of the national framework and the role of SUMPs as a lever to structure sustainable urban mobility policies. Moreover, as the host country of the COP22 in 2016, the government of Morocco committed to reduce its GHG emissions by 13% by 2030 and was one of the first countries to join the MobiliseYourCity Partnership.

Today, the MobiliseYourCity approach aims to capitalise on the experience of Morocco and to support national and local governments in  the development and implementaton of a coherent and ambitious national vision for urban transport. Given the scope of the MobiliseYourCity program in Morocco, a designated team – composed of representatives of AFD, CEREMA, CODATU and ADEME – was set up to coordinate the assistance. 

Contributing to National Urban Mobility Plan

Three main actions have been developped: 

• a high level approach to consolidate and refine the Vision for Sustainable Urban Mobility in Moroccan Cities  
• a dedicated technical assistance to put in place the MRV GES approach with all the cities concerned by MobiliseYourCity 
• a regular "club of cities" every trimester with dedicated capacity building session 

Supporting Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan

• Casablanca  

Casablanca is the largest city of Morocco and one of the largest of Maghreb. It is also considered as the economic and business capital of the country. The metropolitan area is facing exponential mobility growth with increasing traffic issues and related pollution. Since 2004, the Moroccan Government and the Municipality of Casablanca have developed a strategy to tackle these issues. The main achievement is the implementation of tramway line 1 and  line 2 to develop efficient and green public transport.

MYC has provided technical support to Casa Transports, the entity in charge of the SUMP implementation. MYC assisted Casa Transport in guiding the Consultant in charge of the revision of Casablanca SUMP and provided technical expertise for the review of SUMP deliverables. 

• Rabat Salé 

Rabat is the capital of Morocco and the second largest area of the country, it is an administrative and business city. Rabat agglomeration includes the cities of Salé and Temara, which will be bigger than Rabat in terms of inhabitants in the near future. In 2024, the number of inhabitants will reach 2,549,000, and  the need for mobility will increase. By 2024, the agglomeration is approximately experiencing 1,924,000 motorized trips. 2 tramway lines have been developped and line 2 extension are under construction. A new bus network is being structured. Rabat has no SUMP yet, the future mobility plan needs to integrate the cities of Salé and Temara. The challenge is to provide a transport authority equipped with the necessary resources and a unique SDL. 

MYC will  provide technical assistance to assist the STRS in developing Rabat/ Al-Assima SUMP in (i) structuring the project (governance, feedback on terms of reference) (ii) Providing STRS with assistance for developing evaluation then vision-building modules (iii) Assistance for integrating a participatory approach (iv) Capacity-building (throughout the process) (v) Providing technical expertise for the review of SUMP deliverables. 

• Oujda

Oujda is a medium-sized town and the capital city of the ‘Oriental’ region in Northeast Morocco, near Algeria. The population of this city has been increasing in recent years but is now stabilizing. Various projects are in progress or have been rolled out, like the highway between Fès and Oujda. Industry and tourism have developed a lot, but the regional economy is mainly agriculture-based. In 2012, 1,287,301 trips per day were recorded. Commuters account for 32% of the trips made by car, compared with 2.6% in 1983. By 2020, approximately 55,000 motorized trips are predicted. A new bus network is being structured including a high-level bus service. Oujda already has a SUMP, the challenge is implementing it.

MYC is providing technical assistance to structure the monitoring of the implementation of SUMP, to  structure and integrate the MRV GES approach in urban mobility planning and to develop capacity-building in various areas, such as parking and traffic management.