HIBAPRESS – W.A.M
The Supreme Audit Council affirmed that despite the efforts made to reform the tax system of local authorities, some provisions of the legal texts still show discrepancies in interpretation and application, in addition to the fact that the resources and mechanisms placed at the disposal of the tax administration remain insufficient to meet the requirements of efficiency in management.
The Council, in its annual report for the year 2024-2025, regarding the tax resources of local authorities, recorded a threefold increase in the cumulative amount of outstanding tax collection over ten years, rising from 16.8 to 48.5 billion dirhams. In this regard, it called for the establishment of a system of territorial tax governance through thematic committees under the supervision of walis and governors, and the expansion of the local tax base.
On the level of territorial development and management of public utilities, the report noted imbalances in the distribution of human resources, with 60 percent of these resources concentrated in only four regions, which perpetuates a clear spatial disparity, with slowness in the prospective management of competencies and a deficiency in coordination between central and territorial actors. It recommended the establishment of a national database and a joint information system for the distribution of competencies and the activation of the Supreme Council for the Public Service and the National Observatory for Public Utilities.
Regarding the management of passenger road stations, the Council revealed the absence of any regulatory texts regarding the related procedures, calling for raising the level of implementation of the program for the renewal, rehabilitation and modernization of the public passenger transport bus fleet, and for supporting the municipalities and urging them to predetermine the needs regarding the projects of construction and localization of road stations to ensure their effectiveness and optimal use.
As for the Muslim cemetery facility, the report observed that less than 0.4 percent of them have the minimum equipment, with a deteriorated condition of the access roads and a weakness in the connection to the networks, recommending the legal framing of its management and the development of partnership and financing mechanisms to ensure its maintenance according to a comprehensive approach.
Regarding the management of the patient and injured transport facility in the Casablanca-Settat region, the Council recorded multiple actors, pointing out, regarding the management of this facility by the municipalities, the absence of strategic planning and the reliance of most of these municipalities on non-permanent human resources and relatively modern and unequipped vehicles, most of which have not been subject to technical inspection.
In this context, it recommended the preparation of a comprehensive regulatory framework that includes the public and private sectors, and the encouragement of the integration of unstructured actors, with the study of the possibility of including health transport within the compulsory health insurance services.
Regarding slaughterhouses and meat transportation in the Marrakech-Safi region, the Council found that there is only one approved slaughterhouse, with the deterioration of the infrastructure of 86 percent of them, and the failure of modern slaughterhouse projects, calling for accelerating the development of a common and unified vision for the reform of the slaughterhouse sector at the level of the Marrakech-Safi region and accelerating the adoption of an updated final version of the master plan for slaughterhouses and establishing a regional mechanism, and expanding and modernizing the meat transportation fleet.
