“Cities Without Slums”: Improved living conditions for 347,000 families
Hibapress
The Minister of National Planning, Urban Planning, Housing and Urban Policy, Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, indicated on Tuesday in the House of Councilors that the living conditions of 347,000 families have been improved thanks to the “Cities Without Slums” (VSB) program, since its launch until the end of May 2024, or 74% of the total number of 465,000 families concerned.
In response to a question in the House of Councilors on “the government’s policy to eradicate slums,” El Mansouri explained that the problem concerns 1.7 million people, adding that 27,000 housing units have been activated, of which 17,000 have been completed and 10,000 others are under construction.
Over the past two and a half years, the living conditions of more than 43,000 families have been improved, she said, recalling that the annual rate of processing cases of families living in slums increased from 6,200 families between 2018 and 2020 to 18,600 families per year between 2022 and 2024.
The minister reported the completion of the call for tenders for the participation of the private and public sectors in the new approach of the VSB program, like what was achieved in the municipality of Skhirat-Témara, noting that the cases of 62,000 families will be processed with the aim of eradicating the scourge of slums once and for all by the end of 2028.
Ms. El Mansouri underlined the government’s ambition to eradicate slums in all Moroccan cities which suffer from them, particularly in seven provinces which still suffer from the “heavy burden” of slums.
In response to another question on “urban planning documents and the simplification of administrative procedures”, the minister indicated that during the mandate of the current government, 269 urban planning documents were approved, including 189 development plans, specifying that 37 of these plans concern large cities which have suffered from the absence of development plans since the year 2000.
In addition, 79 projects for the development of rural agglomerations were approved, and the coverage of national territories by urban planning documents was generalized, allowing the coverage of 1,289 territorial communities out of 1,503, according to the minister.
