Morocco plans port expansion with eye to recovery

By Zakia Abdennebi

TANGIER, Morocco (Reuters) - Morocco is pressing ahead with a 9.25 billion dirham port expansion near Tangier to ensure it is well placed to benefit from a future recovery in world trade, government ministers said.

The extension to Tanger-Med would make it the biggest port in the Mediterranean and enable the north African country to capture a bigger slice of container traffic through the Strait of Gibraltar that links the Mediterranean to the Atlantic.

It would also help combat widespread poverty in Morocco's neglected northwest and offer an economic alternative to the hashish trade, which still looms large over the region despite repeated eradication attempts.

The government is building a series of business parks near the existing Tanger Med port, offering tax breaks and a platform to re-export manufactured goods exempt from customs duties.

France's second-biggest carmaker, Renault, said on Monday it would go ahead with plans to build a factory near Tanger-Med to produce low-cost vehicles, despite the global economic downturn.

"Many investors have decided to suspend investment decisions," Moroccan Finance and Economy Minister Salaheddine Mezouar told reporters in Tangier. "Morocco has decided to pursue its ambition of strategic positioning because every crisis has an end."

Moroccan firm Marsa Maroc won a concession to operate the new port, named Tanger Med 2, for 30 years. It plans to invest 320 million euros and eventually guarantee traffic of 2 million containers per year.

The port will be built by a consortium of Belgium's Besix, France's Bouygues, its Moroccan unit Bymaro, Morocco's Somagec and Italy's Saitem, Moroccan officials said.