95% of the affected dwellings following the September 8 earthquake, or around 56,000 Moroccan households, received financial aid for reconstruction, totaling 1.4 Bln MAD, Head of Government Aziz Akhannouch said on Monday.
Speaking at the House of Representatives’ question time, Akhannouch stated that over 53,000 building licenses have been issued for damaged households, hitting 90% of the target population in the affected areas in Al Haouz, Chichaoua, Marrakech, Taroudant, Azilal, and Ouarzazate provinces.
The steps taken to rebuild and restore the earthquake-affected areas have necessitated the extraordinary participation of all competent departments in order to overcome the fallout of this natural disaster and contribute to restoring the conditions of economic, social, and cultural development in favor of families in the affected regions.
The National Territory Planning department is undergoing a qualitative transformation, which has resulted in the activation of strategic territorial planning, which includes technical and financial support for devising 12 regional territorial development plans, with 6 completed before June 2021 and 5 completed in the last two and a half years.
The Head of Government also praised urban planning achievements, noting that a new generation of reconstruction documents has been established as a result of the approval of a number of documents, including development plans, rural settlement development plans, the urban development master plan, and strategic zone programming.
These measures could assist in improving urban planning within major cities and relieve pressure on them, while also providing promising opportunities for rural areas to strengthen their competitiveness and socioeconomic integration, as well as a significant boost to the national and regional business climate in terms of attracting investment and facilitating its implementation.
The reconstruction and renovation of damaged houses was ordered by King Mohammed VI following the tragedy, as he stressed during the annual Parliament opening in October In his Speech that “earthquakes cause destruction, but we intend to rehabilitate and rebuild the devastated areas […] The State will set aside 80,000 MAD for partially collapsed homes and 140,000 MAD for destroyed homes.”
The massive 7-magnitude earthquake that hit Morocco, early September, claimed 2946 lives, in addition to 5,674 injured, according to the Interior Ministry.