King Mohammed VI on Wednesday launched the construction works of the Tanger-Med industrial park.
On this occasion, the sovereign chaired the signing ceremony of two agreements. The first relates to purchasing 3,000 ha of public land by the Tangiers Mediterranean Special Agency (TMSA), while the second provides for developing a 5,000 ha off-shore zone in the vicinity of the northern city of Tetuan.
TMSA and its subsidiaries will be in charge of purchasing the land, and developing and managing the industrial parks in a bid to secure a unified management of the Tanger-Med port and industrial parks.
The new industrial park aims to promote the industrial sector and employment in the port’s vicinity and meet the significant increase of the port’s capacity. With a designed total capacity of 8 million containers, the port complex is intended to become one of the major trans-shipment platforms in the world, opening new industrial and economic prospects for Morocco.
The project is also part of a long-term development approach aimed at providing sufficient developed land lots to potential investors.
Since the launch of the Tanger-Med project by the sovereign in July 2002, the industrial sector in the northern region has witnessed sustainable development. There are 400 businesses in the Tangier Free Zone providing some 40,000 jobs; While the Melloussa Free Zone, which hosts the Renault-Nissan alliance, will be endowed with an automobile industrial complex, generating private investments worth some $ 1.8 bln, and 36,000 jobs.
The Tanger-Med industrial-park is expected to generate around 300,000 job opportunities within 20 years.
The king also followed presentations regarding the broad lines of this project by Minister of Industry and ITs, Ahmed Reda Chami, Transport minister, Karim Ghellab, and TMSA director, Said El Hadi.
Source : (MAP)