The effects of climate change have been becoming increasingly evident all over the planet for years, but they particularly affect ecosystems that are already fragile and vulnerable. North Africa is one of them, and the Kingdom of Morocco in particular, one of the countries most exposed to the risks that this environmental process may pose to its economy. Morocco is the fifth largest economy in Africa according to the IMF and an important trade ally of the European Union and particularly of Spain. It also occupies a geostrategic position in the face of the threat of Islamist terrorism and the increasingly recurrent problem of migratory crises. For several decades, the country has experienced progressive economic growth and has been positioning itself in sectors such as renewable energies, agribusiness and electronics. To this end, it has significantly improved its infrastructure with the expansion of ports and free zones such as Tangier and its railway network. In any case, the Alaouite kingdom still lacks improvements in its network of highways or rail connections necessary to host an event such as the 2030 World Cup, which it will host together with Spain and Portugal. To this end, the Moroccan government has budgeted for major infrastructure improvements, including high-speed rail, an area in which Spanish companies are confident of participating thanks to their know-how accumulated since the arrival of the AVE high-speed train to the Iberian Peninsula four decades ago.
Moroccan High Speed Train Al Boraq ©Moroccan National Tourist Office
A report carried out by ICEX in 2022 points to the presence of several companies with Spanish capital in the sustainable mobility sector in Morocco, including Alsa, whose fleet of buses is the largest in the Alawite kingdom with more than 1,700 vehicles. Indra, Vectalia and Greening-e are other Spanish companies that have signed up for commercial expansion in Morocco. The Foreign Trade Institute itself pointed out in the same report the business opportunities in planning, public infrastructures, service concessions, smart cities, electric vehicles and shared mobility. Likewise, they also warn of the opacity of the bidding processes where Moroccan and French companies are rewarded or the subsequent withholding by the state of 10% as profit tax despite the fact that a Double Taxation Agreement is in force.
ALSA urban bus line in Tangier
ALSA urban bus line in Tangier
One of the sectors that the Moroccan government intends to promote especially in view of the 2030 World Cup is air transport. The expansion of the international airports of Rabat and Tangier, the substantial improvement of the Al Hoceima airport and the acquisition of 150 new aircraft for Royal Air Maroc are planned. The Moroccan cabinet’s ambitious goal is to double air transport capacity both domestically and internationally, and to this end it is also planning major improvements to the airports of Casablanca, Marrakech and Agadir. But if air transport is an important pillar of the infrastructure modernization plan, the authorities are also firmly committed to rail as a fundamental part of their project. The current route allowing high-speed train traffic Tangier-Kedira-Rabat-Casablanca will be extended to Marrakech after a controversial public tender in which the Spanish company Ineco (which had the endorsement of the design of the Medina-La Mecca line) had submitted the best economic offer but finally the design was awarded to the French-Moroccan consortium formed by Egis Rail-Systra-Novec for about 130 million euros. The announcement came just two days after the French support for the Moroccan plan for Western Sahara, which Spain also backs despite its historical support for the claims of the Saharawi people. In terms of geopolitical strategy, the new climate of understanding between neighbors such as Spain and Morocco, which have historically lived between suspicions and border conflicts, must be seen through a prism of economic interests and collaboration in migration policy.
Royal Air Maroc Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner ©RAM
Royal Air Maroc Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner ©RAM
As for the business potential for Spanish companies, particularly engineering and construction firms, it is undeniable that the extensive program of public works planned for the next decade makes the Moroccan market a top priority. After the construction of the superport of Tangier Med, in the Strait of Gibraltar, and the works underway for the ports of Nador West Med, near Melilla, and Dakhla Atlantic, which meant a significant outlay for the public coffers, now comes the Morocco 2040 Railway Strategy. It consists of the construction of new lines for some 35,000 million euros, including high-speed, interregional and suburban corridors. The National Railway Office (ONCF) seeks to connect 43 cities, a dozen ports and 15 international airports by train. The aim is for 80% of Morocco’s population to have close access to this mode of transport within 16 years, compared to 50% at present. Planning includes the construction of 1,300 kilometers of high-speed rail and 3,800 kilometers of conventional corridors. It envisages the acquisition of 168 trains, 18 of which will be high-speed trains, with a budget of more than 14,000 million euros in a tender to which the Spanish companies Talgo and CAF have submitted bids. And it is in this scenario that both French and Spanish companies aspire to obtain a greater percentage of a cake that will be shared out in a delicate and volatile game of influences, alliances and know-how.
Detail of the project of the tunnel under the Strait of Gibraltar presented by SECEGSA
Detail of the project of the tunnel under the Strait of Gibraltar presented by SECEGSA
But beyond the possible participation in other major public infrastructure projects, the government of Pedro Sánchez wants to revive an old intention that both countries put in writing 45 years ago and that today remains at a standstill. The project of fixed link through the Strait of Gibraltar, or what is the same, a double subway railway tunnel crossing the 28 kilometers of the strait and that already in 1979 Hassan II and Juan Carlos I signed to promote in a collaboration agreement. According to the media, during the visit of the Minister of Transport to Rabat last May, “he conveyed to his Moroccan counterparts the enormous interest that Spanish companies have in participating in the development projects of the transport sector in the neighboring country, especially with a view to the construction of a tunnel linking both countries”. According to experts, the project is now technically feasible, although the cost, complexity and duration of the works are of pharaonic magnitude. According to estimates, the work would require an investment of between 10,000 and 20,000 million euros, which would represent between 2% and 5% of Spain’s GDP, and the time estimated for its completion would be between 10 and 15 years. The public company SECEGSA, created in 1979 to study the feasibility of the project, supports the proposal based on decades of field studies and the progress of the tunneling industry. Because, after decades of disagreements, Spain and Morocco (which already share the organization of the 2030 World Cup) seem to be closer than ever, and this could open an important market for our companies.