HIBAPRESS – Fikri Ouldali
Despite the rapid urban expansion and increasing population density experienced by the urban pole of Sidi Abed, the population still suffers from the almost complete absence of essential public facilities, which are considered among the simplest conditions for a decent living, in a stark contrast between urban growth and institutional marginalization.
The neighborhood lacks a health clinic that ensures the minimum level of medical services, which forces residents, especially patients, the elderly, and pregnant women, to travel long distances to other neighborhoods, in light of the weak means of transportation and limited resources. Also absent is an educational institution, whether primary or secondary, which exacerbates the suffering of families with their children's schooling, and increases school dropout rates, especially among young children.
And it does not stop at this, as residents also complain about the absence of a kindergarten, which deprives early childhood of an essential educational space for building the child's personality and developing his abilities, in addition to the absence of a mosque that frames the religious and social life of the population, and constitutes an element of spiritual and societal cohesion within the neighborhood.
This reality raises more than one question mark about the urban planning policies adopted, as it seems that the logic of construction and housing preceded the logic of providing services, in the absence of a comprehensive vision that balances housing and social infrastructure. This makes the urban pole of Sidi Abed just a large residential complex, lacking the components of a “complete neighborhood”.
The local population has, on more than one occasion, expressed its dissatisfaction with this situation, demanding that the responsible authorities, headed by the territorial community, the concerned external interests, and the Urban Agency, urgently intervene to integrate the neighborhood into urban equipment programs, and accelerate the completion of the necessary public facilities.
Activists in associations confirm that the solution does not lie only in promises, but in a clear programming, specific time schedules, and allocated budgets, which ensure the establishment of: a nearby health clinic, a public school with its various tracks, a kindergarten and a mosque, and neighborhood playgrounds and green spaces.
What the urban pole of Sidi Abed in Al Hoceima is experiencing is not just a fleeting shortage, but a structural imbalance in urban planning, which requires a comprehensive treatment based on spatial justice, linking housing to service, and urbanization to human dignity.
Will the concerned authorities move to remedy this situation before it turns into a real social crisis? Or will the neighborhood remain a new model of cement neighborhoods without soul or services?
