Fes–Oujda expressway

Fes-Oujda Expressway is not an Expressway where it is free but a paying 'Motorway' linking Morocco-Algeria with Oujda-Rabat-Casablanca and Southern Morocco and came into operation on 25 July 2011.

The motorway will be an extension on the existing Rabat - Meknes - Fes expressway. Work started in 2007 and planned opening is in 2011^[1]. At the end of June 2011 the status was still under construction and no formal announcement was made regarding the opening-date.

Finance

The projected costs for the construction are 9125 Million Dirhams, excluding costs for buying or acquiring land.^[1]

The ADM signed an agreement with the Hassan II Fund for Economic and Social Development for a financial injection of the ADM of 2000 MDH in 2005 and invited external investors for participation.

The main investors are: (all in Million Dirham, unless other stated)^[1]

• BID - Islamic Bank for Development - 1080
• FADES -Arab Fund for social and economic development - 1800
• FKDEA- Kuwait Fund for Arab and Economic Development - 900
• a fund related to the OPEC - 225
• FEMIP- European Fund Euro-Medit. Inv&Partnersh. - € 180 M^[2]
• FAD - Fonds d’Abou Dhabi - 225

Sections

The construction is divided into ten sections:

• 1 : Fès – PK 43,9 (43,9 km) ;
• 2 : PK 43,9 – Béni Bouzert (28,1 km) ;
• 3 : Béni Bouzert – Oued Amlil (20 km) ;
• 4 : Oued Amlil – PK 110 (18 km) ;
• 5 : PK 110 – Taza (17 km) ;
• 6 : Taza – Guercif (67 km) ;
• 7 : Guercif - Taourirt (34 km) ;
• 8 : Taourirt – Laayoun (53 km) ;
• 9 : Laayoun – PK 316 (35 km) ;
• 10 : PK 316 – Oujda (12 km).

Several national and international contructors work on one or more sections of the road. Most international contractors have worked/are working for ADM on other projects such as the Marrakech-Agadir expressway^[1]

Network

This stretch is an important part of the Moroccan East-West corridor and will also be a part of the so called l’Autoroute Maghrébine which will run from Nouakchott (capital of Mauritania) all the way to Tobruk in Libya.

The road will improve the access to and from many cities along the Mediterranean coast. Another project improving transport in the North is the new railroad to the port of Nador and Spanish enclave Melilla

References and footnotes

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Details from page, ADM website, visited 27 June, 2011
2. ^ European pressrelease visited 1 August 2008