Al Haouz Earthquake: Over 56,000 Households Benefit From Reconstruction, Rehabilitation Aid

Rabat - More than 56,000 households from areas affected by Al Haouz earthquake have benefited from the financial aid allocated to reconstruct and rehabilitate their damaged homes, with an achievement rate of 95% and a total cost of 1.4 billion dirhams, Head of Government Aziz Akhannouch said on Monday. Speaking at the House of Representatives' question time, Akhannouch noted that more than 53,000 building permits have been granted to target families, reaching 90% of the target population in the provinces of Al Haouz, Chichaoua, Marrakech, Taroudant, Azilal and Ouarzazate. The measures undertaken to reconstruct and rehabilitate the areas affected by the Al Haouz earthquake have necessitated an exceptional involvement of all competent departments to overcome the fallout of this natural disaster and to contribute to restoring the conditions of economic, social and cultural development in favor of families in the impacted regions, he noted. Akhannouch added that the National Territory Planning department is un dergoing a qualitative transformation that has resulted in the activation of strategic territorial planning, which includes technical and financial support for devising 12 regional territorial development plans, adding that 6 regional plans were completed before June 2021 and 5 others over the last two and a half years. The Head of Government also praised the achievements made in urban planning, pointing out that a new generation of reconstruction documents has been established thanks to the approval of a series of documents, including development plans, rural settlement development plans, the urban development master plan and the programming of strategic zones. He added that these measures would help to rationalize urban planning within major cities and relieve pressure on them, while offering promising opportunities for rural areas to strengthen their competitiveness and socio-economic integration, as well as giving a strong boost to the national and regional business climate in terms of attracting invest ment and facilitating its implementation. Source: Agence Marocaine De Presse