The Moroccan railways authority is investing Dh1.14 billion ($99 million) in upgrading its services for the northern part of the country.
The project is part of an aggressive campaign by the authority to improve services and expand its small network ahead of a planned liberalization that would open the national rail network to private investors, Morocco’s official news agency (MAP) reported last week.
According to the agency, work on the 54km long (34 miles) link between the cities of Sidi Kacem and Meknes will involve renovating the existing line and building a new one before the end of 2002.
The project would relieve heavy traffic on the Casablanca-Fes axis, which accounts for 70 percent of the country's railway traffic.
Early this year, Morocco said that it had a project to link its railway networks to those of Europe and other Arab countries.
Transport and Merchant Navy Minister Abdeslam Znined was quoted by reports as saying that “the project is dictated by Morocco's ambitions to enhance dialogue between cultures and civilizations.”
He added that the International Railways Union had set up a task force to study the technical feasibility of three trans-Mediterranean corridors linking Tangiers (northern Morocco), Algiers and Tangiers to Spain, France and Italy, respectively – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
