Sarkozy launches high-speed train project in Morocco

Sep 29, 2011, 15:16 GMT

Tangier, Morocco - Morocco's King Mohammed VI and French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday launched the construction in Morocco of what they described as the first high-speed rail line in the Arab world.

The French-built TGV line will attract up to 8 million passengers annually, Moroccan Transport Minister Karim Ghellab said during the ceremony at Tangier railway station.

The 20-billion-dirham (2.5-billion dollar) line will cover the 400-kilometre distance between Tangier and Casablanca starting in December 2015.

Travelling at more than 350 kilometres per hour, the TGV will halve the travel time between two of Morocco's most important cities to 2 hours 20 minutes.

Moroccan sources gave the budget as 20 billion dirhams. It will be paid out by Morocco, France, and funds in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi, as well as the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development.

The trains will be assembled in Morocco, in the first such operation by the French company Alsthom outside its home country.

The Moroccan TGV was seen as a rare international success for Alsthom, which has so far sold TGV technology to Spain, Italy and South Korea.

The first agreements between the French and Moroccan rail companies - SNCF and ONCF - were signed in 2007.

Morocco intends to create a total of 1,500 kilometres of high-speed rail lines in the future, Ghellab said.

The project has however come under criticism in Morocco, where some see the project as unnecessary or the deal as lacking in transparency.

Morocco is generally developing its infrastructures, including the road network which will cover a total of 1,500 kilometres. The port of Tangier is to increase its capacity to being able to hold 8 million containers, making it one of the largest in Africa and on the Mediterranean.

Sarkozy's visit was also seen as backing the political reforms of Mohammed VI, who responded to pro-democracy demonstrations by staging a referendum on a constitutional reform in July.

The reform, which was approved with an overwhelming majority, increases the powers of the prime minister. It has been deemed insufficient by members of the February 20 pro-democracy movement, an expression of the 'Arab spring' protest wave in Morocco.

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