SOCIETY 371 / 2017

DIPLOMATIE
MAROKKO
„Looking for more
exchange between
Morocco and Austria“
SOCIETY spoke to Mr Aziz Rabbah, Minister of Energy, Mines
and Sustainable Development of Morocco, about current
infrastructure projects and the “Vienna Energy Forum”.
What are the biggest
challenges
Morocco faces
infrastructurewise
in order to
further develop
its role as an economic hub and as a tourist
destination?
Morocco has decided to accelerate the
development of its infrastructure in the
next twenty years. Today, our achievements
are remarkable. We have greatly
invested in basic infrastructure such as
motorways, railways, airports, ports, and
even in hydraulic infrastructures. Yet,
we remain aware that to be an emerging
country with all its facets, we must further
accelerate the development of these
infrastructures to fuel this emergence. In
other words, what normally is to be done
in 50 years, we have to do in two decades.
That is to say that by 2035, we have to
double the infrastructures, strengthen
the motorway network, reinforce the rail
network and even triple the capacity of
airports and ports. I would like to point
out that it is a strategy displayed and a
voluntary choice to consistently develop
the competitiveness of the national economy.
In this respect, I can give you figures
that might be of interest to you: the
investments planned only for transport
infrastructure for the next twenty years
are estimated at more than 600 billion
dirhams, which equals about 60 billion
Euros. It is also noteworthy that Morocco
will invest around 20 billion Euros in hydraulic
infrastructure in order to deal
with water issues, while 30 billion Euros
of investments will be devoted to renewable
energies. In other words, investments
in the renewable energy, hydraulic and
Fotos: SOCIETY/Pobaschnig
36 | SOCIETY 1_2017