MOROCCO– The Casablanca-Settat region is set to sign a US$100 million loan agreement with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a subsidiary of the World Bank, to finance the construction of lines 3 and 4 of the Casablanca tramway system.
In addition to building the lines 3 and 4 of the Casablanca tramway, the loan is also intended to modernize rural roads of around 2,000 kilometers the region surrounding the economic city.
The proposed new tramway Line 3 will have a length of 12.5 kilometers and a total of 20 stations.
It will pass across very dense living spaces as well as economic and commercial activity areas.
The regions to be served by the tramway include: Lalla Meriem neighborhood, Sbata districts, Garage Allal, and Derb Omar, in addition to the Casa Port train station.
The route of line 3 will start at the Tramway maintenance center of El Hantate located in Sidi Othmane district.
It will then move to the following stops: 10 Mars Boulevard, Abdelkader Sahraoui Avenue, Driss El Allam Boulevard, Driss El Harti Boulevard, Mohammed VI Boulevard, and Mohammed Smiha Street, finishing at the Casa Port train station.
Meanwhile, the route of line 4 will start from the Hassan II Mosque to traverse Moulay Youssef Boulevard, Rachidi, Mers Sultan Boulevard, Rahal Al Meskini Boulevard, Place la Victoire, and Barathon Street.
It will then proceed to Ouled Ziane Boulevard, 10 March 1982 Avenue, Nil Boulevard, Auxiliary Forces Avenue, Driss El Allam Boulevard, Driss El Harti Boulevard, Oqba Bnou Nafii Boulevard, to reach its terminus in the Moulay Rachid industrial zone.
The Casablanca-Settat region is one of the twelve administrative regions of Morocco with its headquarters in Casablanca- Morocco’s largest city.
It covers an area of 20,166 km² and recorded a population of 6,861,739 in the 2014 Moroccan census 69% of which lived in urban areas.
The tram extension is thus expectation to ease traffic congestion on Casablanca’s densely populated cities.
