The African Bank of Development (AfDB) announced, in a communiqué published on 17^th September, having granted Morocco a loan of € 112.86 million intended for partly financing the construction of the Nador West Med port complex. This loan, accorded to Société Nador West Med (SNWM), with a guarantee from the State, will be used more precisely to finance the construction of port infrastructure during the first phase of the complex.

Located on the Mediterranean coast and in the North-East of the Kingdom, the complex is structured around a big port and a trading, industrial, logistic and tertiary hub which will be built on a free zone of about 1,500 hectares and a zone outside the harbour of about 2,500 hectares. It will be progressively opened to operation from 2021.

The project also includes the construction of a main dike of 4,200m; a secondary dike of 1,200m, a hydrocarbon terminal, 2 container terminals with a wharf 1,520m long, a “specialised bulk – coal” post, a “various goods” terminal, a wagoner post, a service wharf of 384m, 100 hectares of median strip. Its cost is estimated at € 914.28 million.

In addition to AfDB, it is jointly financed by Société Nador West Med with € 423.97 million, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development with a € 200 million loan and the Arabic Fund for Economic and Social Development, with a loan equivalent to € 177.45 million

This project comes within the framework of the economic and social development programme of Morocco for the period covering 2012-2016. Its objectives are to contribute to the fight against regional disparities, to strengthen the port offering from Morocco in the West Mediterranean region, to take advantage of its position close to the Gibraltar straight and to secure the supply of Morocco in energy products.

As a reminder, 13 companies or international groups, including China Railway Port Channel Engineering and a group made up of French Bouygues and Italian engineer Saipem, were pre-qualified in February for the construction of the future Nador Port.