This article was automatically translated from HIBAPRESS, the Arabic version:
Hibapress
The city of Fez is preparing to take a decisive stage in the modernization of its urban and interurban transport system.
Local authorities have just validated the creation of a local development company (SDL) called “Fez Mobility SA”, with an initial capital of 5 million dirhams and an ambitious investment program of 566 million dirhams covering the period 2025-2035.
According to the business plan presented during the last extraordinary session of the municipal council, the municipality of Fès will be the main shareholder of the SDL with a participation of 89.99% alongside the wilaya of the Fès-Meknès region and the municipalities of Mechouar Fès, Ouled Tayeb, Sidi Harzem and Ain Baida.
This initiative aims to respond to strategic mobility challenges in an agglomeration of 1.25 million inhabitants, marked by demographic growth of 11.3% since 2014, greater than the national average. The population is thus projected at 1,368 million inhabitants by 2030.
The preparatory study highlights the weakness of the current network, which has only 100 buses for a city of this size, and its inability to satisfy growing needs for urban and interurban mobility.
The SDL intends to carry out several structuring projects: the acquisition of 250 buses for an amount of 300 million dirhams, the implementation of a modern ticketing system (16 million dirhams), the construction of a maintenance center (100 million dirhams) and the development of two high -level bus lines (BHNS) for 150 million dirhams.
The financing of these investments will be supported by the State through the Support Fund for Transport Reforms (FART), in accordance with the new national mobility model, said the president of the municipal council of Fez, Abdeslam El Bekkali.
Financial forecasts count on revenue of 96.1 million dirhams for the period 2025-2035, of which almost 80% will come from the control and monitoring activities of operators (2% of the turnover of the carriers) and a little more than 20% of the operating subsidies of the municipalities.
The number of travelers should go from 82.13 million in 2025 to 113.46 million in 2035, with an average price estimated at 4 dirhams per journey. Operating expenses are valued at 41.6 million dirhams over ten years, including more than 75% for personnel costs.
The implementation of the urban travel plan (PDU) should allow a significant transfer of private vehicles and taxis to public transport, with nearly 177,700 additional daily trips captured by 2036.
