95% of Moroccan commercial transactions cross the country's ports, which represent the gateway of Morocco and its window to the rest of the world, Moroccan Minister of Equipment and Transport, Karim Ghallab told the Bahrain-based Al Wasat daily on Friday.
Ghallab said that the interest showed by Morocco in this sector is reflected in the huge investments allotted to it and the future prospects to develop the management and operation methods of this sector. "This will be achieved thanks to the new law which has been approved by the parliament in its current session to create the national ports agency and the ports exploitation company," Ghallab said.
With respect to the port of city of Asfi, Ghallab emphasized that his Ministry took many measures to rehabilitate and restructure it by expanding the north side of the port at a cost of 10 million dirham, and building an insulated wall between the commercial port and the fishing one at a cost of one million Dirham. The Ministry has also modernized the facilities of the ships station and completed technical studies to expand the southern part of the port at a cost of 12 million Dirham.
The Ministry is currently working on a thorough technical study to cover all the aspects and geological, technical and economic data in order to build a new port in the city of Asfi. [MH-FC]
© APD (Arab Press Digest) 2005
