Mr. Salaheddine Mezouar, Minister of Economy and Finance and His Excellency Mr. Eneko LANDABURU, Ambassador, Head of the European Union Delegation in Rabat signed, March 11th 2011, at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the financing agreement program to provide access to remote areas.
On this occasion, the Minister of Economy and Finance stressed the high priority Morocco gives to the second national program of rural roads, which aims at increasing the accessibility of the rural population of 54 % in 2005 to 80% in 2012 through the implementation of 15,500 km of rural roads, reducing disparities between provinces in terms of rural accessibility and providing access to three million inhabitants living in rural areas.
The Minister of Economy and Finance clarified that this program, which costs 55 million euros (about 617 million DH), is perfectly in line with the national strategy for balancing regional development and improving the rural population`s socioeconomic conditions.
He also stated that the activities chosen within the framework of the program aim to improve the opening up of isolated areas to communal road network by accessible ways, to adopt a national strategy for road maintenance through the creation of a sustainable mechanism to finance the maintenance of municipal roads network and reinforce the role and capacity of local authorities in the municipal road infrastructure management.
With the signing of this agreement, Mr. Mezouar noted that the financial allocation for the National Indicative Programme 2007/2010 has been fully mobilized. The total amount of this project is 718 million euros (about $ 8 billion DH), focusing on structural reform programs for our economy.
After the ceremony, Mr. Salaheddine MEZOUAR and Mr. Eneko LANDABURU welcomed the level and quality of cooperation ties linking Morocco and the European Union and affirmed their willingness to work towards strengthening them.