HIBAPRESS – Abdellatif Baraka
In recent years, the Moroccan authorities have intensified their interventions to put an end to the spread of illegal construction on the coastal public domain. This comes after large parts of the coastline were transformed into spaces exploited outside the law. The Ministry of Interior initiated the largest demolition operations of unlicensed buildings, reflecting an official will to reclaim and reorganize the coasts.
These interventions cannot be reduced to their technical dimension only, but come within the context of a broader policy aimed at protecting the maritime public domain and stopping its depletion. This follows years of overlooking the situation, which allowed the coast to be transformed from a shared space into a private privilege for limited groups.
What does the state want from liberating the coasts?
This file raises fundamental questions about the future of the coasts after demolition. Is the goal only to remove illegal construction, or to redevelop these areas according to a modern vision? Does the state seek to open the field for investment, especially tourism, or to guarantee the right of the residents to benefit from the coast?
The available data indicate that the state is moving towards an approach that consists of two phases: the first is to liberate the coast from all illegal occupation, and the second is to rehabilitate it within urban plans that respect the environment and serve local development.
The coast is viewed today as an economic and tourist lever, not just as a field for unregulated construction.
Who benefits from the chaos? Chaos as a cover for rent
Despite promoting some rhetoric about "acquired rights," the real question remains: who actually benefited from the continuation of these illegal situations?
The fact is that chaos has not always been the result of social need, but in many cases, it has formed a cover for a rent-seeking system from which a few benefited.
In the absence of control, the coastal public domain was exploited for rent or speculation without any legal basis, which created unregulated profits and contributed to the growth of an unregulated economy. Networks of intermediaries and speculators appeared, who do not reside in the coastal areas, but accumulated large gains from the continuation of chaos and awaited settlements or potential compensation.
The most dangerous thing is that this situation created an interest among some parties in obstructing the state's intervention, by using social slogans to confuse matters, while the loss was collective in the end, affecting the residents, investment, and the image of coastal cities.
Rehabilitation of the coast: an opportunity for local development
From this perspective, the demolition operations are a necessary step to rearrange the coast and prepare it for development projects, including the construction of modern cornices, which provide a breathing space for the residents and support the tourist attractiveness of coastal cities.
Informed sources confirm that the demands for compensation for these buildings mostly lack any legal basis, especially since the exploitation was carried out for years without paying occupation fees or respecting the applicable laws.
Observers believe that what many coastal areas are witnessing today, such as the northern coasts of Agadir and Dar Bouazza and others, represents a real transformation in the management of the coastline, and opens the door to a new development model that balances between protecting the public domain, encouraging investment, and ensuring that the residents benefit from an organized coast that is accessible to all.
