The project targeting Greater Casablanca aims to improve access to jobs and essential services by strengthening passenger rail services in the region.
The World Bank’s board of directors approved a $350 million financing package for the mobility and logistics hub of Greater Casablanca. The initiative seeks to “enhance access to employment and essential services through the development of rail transport” in the area, a key node in Morocco’s national network.
The National Railway Office (ONCF), the project’s lead agency, will receive “technical and financial support to oversee infrastructure expansion,” according to the official statement. With Morocco’s urbanisation rate currently at 60%, expected to rise to 70% by 2050, the Casablanca-Settat region—Morocco’s economic heartland—is central to these changes.
The cornerstone of the project, the Close Intra-Metropolitan Service (SIR), plans the renovation of fifteen multimodal stations and the electrification of a 73-kilometer line serving Zenata, Mohammedia, and Bouskoura.
“This system will connect the urban center to the suburbs in under 45 minutes,” the World Bank emphasised.
By 2031, an estimated 560,000 residents are expected to benefit from improved service, with “a 7% increase in jobs accessible within this timeframe.”
Ahmadou Moustapha Ndiaye, the Bank’s Director for the Maghreb and Malta, described the project as “a lever for quality of life and ecological transition.”
MK/te/sf/lb/as/APA