Virtual Magazine of Morocco on the Web
Morocco Week in Review 
October 2 2004

A Taste Of Morocco
Morocco in bid to save its two-million-year-old forest
Morocco has 553 handicraft cooperatives
Fires destroy nearly 40 hectares of forests in northern Morocco
Road Accidents drop by 4.2 pc in Morocco
Casablanca hosts Moroccan-German conference on renewable energies Oct. 7-8
Homage to airmail pioneers: St Exupery museum dedicated in Southern Tarfaya
Moroccan-made Fulgura in Paris Mondial de L'Automobile
Morocco: Water Palaver

A Taste Of Morocco
Written by Peggy Fox Last Updated: 9/30/2004 1:29:58 PM

How'd you like to take a trip to Morocco this weekend - without leaving the area? The McLean Community Center's Fall Cultural Festival will spotlight the Kingdom of Morocco.

Have you ever been to a Jewish wedding? You know how during the celebration they hoist the bride and groom up in chairs? They also do that at a Moroccan wedding and one will be re-enacted at the festival on Saturday. It's just one example of a culture that brings people together.

This is a rare sight in this country - a roving Moroccan band jamming in McLean. You'll see this and more at the McLean Community Center this Saturday as it's transformed into a Marakesh Marketplace. "It's about creating a festival atmosphere. Everywhere you look, it's a different scene." The famous Moroccan singer Pinhas has flown in for the event. Pinhas is a Jewish Moroccan, which is also his singing style. It blends perfectly with the Muslim style. In the kingdom of Morocco, Jews and Muslims are friends.

"In Morocco, we are all united as one. It's a good example for others." The festival was the idea of Amalisa Assaad, an American who's married to a Moroccan. "I love the serenity of the people and the joyful culture. I want to showoff my Moroccan brothers and sisters in this community." People who come to this weekend's festival will be immersed in Moroccan culture - the clothing, the food, but most importantly the music. "It brings culture and religion together. Music is an inspiration for us all."

The festival is at the McLean Community Center this Saturday from 11am to 5pm. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for children age 3 to 9-years-old. There will be lots of activities for the kids, including a moon bounce, pony rides, face painting and camel petting!
http://www.wusatv9.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=33642 
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Morocco in bid to save its two-million-year-old forest.
(Agencies) 30 September 2004 SIDI BU GABA (Morocco)

On the shores of Sidi Bu Gaba Lake where the wild olive trees run parallel to the red juniper trees and huge red mulberry trees, those defending the environment are trying to protect the remains of a big forest, whose history dates back to the fourth geological age.
The age of the forest is said to be over 2 million years. In this sanctuary, spread over an area of 650 hectares, 30km north of the capital Rabat, Abdul Salam Bu Shafra , engineer of waters and forests - also a member of the Animals and Environment Protection Association that runs the forest - says many species are endangered. However, the government is trying to save the forest and its species.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/middleeast/2004/September/middleeast_September807.xml&section=middleeast&col= 
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Morocco has 553 handicraft cooperatives
RABAT, Spe.28

The number of Moroccan cooperatives operating in handicraft reached 553 until March 2004, the "Revue de l'Artisan", said.

According to the review, these cooperatives' experience remains limited and its growth weak, despite the existence of a legal framework and several advantages granted by the government to the sector.

The main activities covered by craftsmen cooperatives are, according to the publication, carpets (12.65%), embroidery and clothes-making (9.04%), carpentry (7.77%) and building and electricity (7.23%).
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/home_dep/h_torture.htm 
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Fires destroy nearly 40 hectares of forests in northern Morocco
Tangier, Sep. 29

Two fires that broke out Monday in a forest near Tangier have destroyed nearly 40 hectares of forest. The first fire erupted Monday night in Feddan Chapo, 15 Km from Tangier. The other fire broke out on the same day In Sidi Saleh forest, 40 Km from Tangier. Gusty winds made it difficult to contain the two fires but firefighters could finally got them under control early Tuesday with the help of local authorities.
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/eng.htm 
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Road Accidents drop by 4.2 pc in Morocco
RABAT, Sep. 28

The number of road accidents have dropped by 4.2 percent during the first 8 months of 2004, compared to the same period of the previous year, said a release of the National Committee for Road Accidents Prevention (CNPAC).

Some 2,502 people died in 35,752 accidents during the first 8 months of 2004, i.e. a drop of 0.9 percent.

According to figures released by the Equipment and Transport Ministry, the number of people seriously wounded in the same period totalled 8,959, i.e. a decrease of 9.6 percent, while the number of persons slightly injured reached 44,941, that is a drop of 2.3 pc, compared to the same period in 2003.

The period of April-August 2004, when the strategic urgency plan for road security (PSIU) kicked off, was marked by a drop of 7.8 pc in road accidents that reached 22,810. 1,631 people were killed in road accidents in the same period, i.e. a decrease of 6.5 pc.

Figures released recently have shown that reckless driving causes about 84 to 89 percent of road accidents in the country, while poor roads and other circumstances are only responsible of 2 to 3 percent of the total number of accidents.
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/eng.htm 
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Casablanca hosts Moroccan-German conference on renewable energies Oct. 7-8
CASABLANCA, Sep.27

The Moroccan city of Casablanca will be hosting the first Moroccan-German conference on renewable energies this October 7 through 8.  The event, organized by the German trade and industry chamber in Morocco and the German agency for renewable energy, aims at reinforcing Moroccan-German cooperation in energy resources management. The meeting will cover themes related to energy and environment strategies, technological evolution, markets development, with examples of German and Moroccan experiences.
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/eng.htm 
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Homage to airmail pioneers: St Exupery museum dedicated in Southern Tarfaya
LAAYOUNE, Sep.29

The St Exupery Museum was dedicated Tuesday in the Southern city of Tarfaya, to pay homage to the pioneers of airmail, particularly pilots of Pierre-Georges Latecoere lines, created in 1918. The museum, with its countless photographies, books, documents and old plane models, bears the name of the renowned French writer and mail pilot Antoine de Saint Exupery. Born in Lyons on June 29, 1900, Antoine de Saint-Exupery flew for the first time at the age of twelve. In 1927, he accepted the position of airfield chief for Cape Juby, Tarfaya, and began writing his first book, a memoir called Southern Mail, which was published 'in 1929.
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/eng.htm 
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Moroccan-made Fulgura in Paris Mondial de L'Automobile
PARIS, Sep.30

Fulgura, the Moroccan-made supercar, is part of the 2004 Paris Mondial de L'Automobile, which opened its doors on September 23rd.
Fulgura, to be produced in the Laraki Automobiles factory, in V8 and V12, Casablanca, is, according to the French magazine 'Paris Match', one of the show's stars. Its designer, Abdeslem Laraki, who underlines that his creation is 100% Moroccan, had built the biggest yacht in the world, measuring 115 meters in length. "Morocco is not a country with car culture, but it boasts countless competences."
http://www.map.co.ma/mapeng/eng.htm 
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Morocco: Water Palaver
27 September 2004

Water was the focus for many Moroccans last week, as the International Water Association (IWA) held its fourth Global Water Conference in Marrakech. Bringing together researchers, consultants, regulators, industrial producers and consumers concerned with that most precious commodity, the conference served both as a marketplace and a research forum.

Some 2300 people took part, with 120 company exhibitions and 500 workshops to visit. Participants were reported to have been generally satisfied both with the quality of scientific debate and with the business contacts and contracts made.

The conference's theme was access to water for sustainable development - implying a whole gamut of services from rainwater collection to water treatment. Ali Fassi Fihri, the head of Morocco's National Drinking Water Office (known by its French acronym, ONEP), presided over the event, along with the outgoing president of the IWA, Michael Rouse.

Notably, the conference also saw the publication of the new Bonn Charter for Drinking Water by the World Health Organization (WHO). This attempts to expand the remit of water safety control, from the tap to the source - or, in the words of a participating WHO official, risk management and understanding of each stage in the production chain, distribution chain and the finished product.

The charter focuses on measures to protect water at its source, ensuring adequate treatment, maintaining quality in distribution and ensuring consumer awareness. The implications for a diversity of public and private sector actors are therefore obvious.

The control of water production and distribution was also commercially presented by Lydec - a Franco-Spanish consortium running the water and electricity utilities in Casablanca and Mohammedia. Their presentation contained a demonstration of their central controlling office - a workspace that uses remote technologies to control its three networks: water, electricity and water treatment.

A holistic approach to water is also close to ONEP's heart. As Fassi Fihri told the OBG in 2003, the office's policy has moved from being supply to demand-driven. The traditional regional concern with guaranteeing water supply by building dams has moved to a Moroccan focus on rationalizing distribution.

In an interview with local paper Le Matin, Fassi Fihri confirmed that Morocco was a good example in terms of drinking water. An ambitious four-year programme has seen access to an improved water source rise to above 80%. Although the urban/rural gap is still important, ONEP plans to have 100% coverage by 2007.

In water treatment, however, Fassi Fihri admits to a certain deficiency.
Inadequate infrastructure means that much wastewater is simply thrown away rather than treated. For coastal towns and cities, the sea ends up absorbing most of the waste. Yet for a country that if not water-deficient is certainly water-stressed, more sewage treatment facilities would help increase the amount of water available.

The problem, of course, is cost. The bill for implementing a complete treatment network could be as much as Dh400bn ($1:Dh9.01), and many local councils do not have access to such funds. Nonetheless, ONEP is the principal beneficiary of foreign development aid loans (Dh1.4bn), and this funding should help the government tackle the delay.

Morocco is notable for having privatized much of its water utilities over the past decade. The performance of Lydec, and Vivendi Environment affiliates Redal (for the Rabat-Sale region) and Amendis (for Tangiers and
Tetouan) has been globally satisfactory. The distribution network has become more secure and the services in these towns are now in the black. If there have been some complaints about rising costs, these have not been dramatic, and hand in hand with ONEP's strategy of bringing drinking water to within reach of the whole population, the programme has been successful in rationalising what was previously a chaotic system.

There have also been accusations of Gallic favoritism - the utilities privatized have invariably involved large French multinationals like Vivendi, ONYX and Suez. But that ignores the fact that French expertise in privatized utilities is generally considered world-class - these multinationals have gained experience in a number of countries around the world. Confronted with that criticism, Fassi Fihri also pointed out that the largest ONEP contract this year involves an Austrian company managing water treatment in Oujda - with the help of a 30m-euro loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB).

Water is of course an essential commodity, and in Morocco it is one of some concern. When locals claim that GDP comes from heaven, they are not just being pious. Rather, they are affirming the continued importance of rain to the country's economic health. Basically, when there is rain during the winter, the farmers have a good harvest, food imports are less necessary, and higher rural incomes (in a population that is still 50/50 urban/rural) means higher domestic consumption.

Yet the problem with the drinking water programme is that is has not tackled the core of Morocco's water crunch. Basically, while a plethora of dams have been constructed over the decades, their utilization is still skewed towards a small minority of well-connected lands. Much of these lands are focused on producing agricultural exports - fresh fruit and vegetables like tomatoes and oranges that do earn valuable foreign currency, but are sometimes considered inappropriate to Moroccan agriculture.

Meanwhile, the majority of Moroccan land remains rain-fed - and thus most farmers exploit their land with far higher risk - thus the connotations of heaven-sent GDP growth.

Finally urban supply only constitutes 20% of total demand. This is perhaps to be expected, given high agricultural demand, but it does nevertheless constitute a potentially important deficit in the future.

Urban demand is set to increase substantially in the medium term, due to three factors. First, the urban population is set to rise at a faster rate than the rural - an effect primarily of rural exodus. Secondly, the growing importance of industry, and thirdly an increase in tourist numbers, will both increase urban demand.

The object of the government's water strategy is therefore to rationalize the distribution of water. This is not just ONEP's mandate. After all, should its programme to extend drinking water access to the whole population be finished in time, some Moroccan farmers will find themselves paradoxically in a situation where drinking water is within easy reach, yet their soils remain parched.

The water issue can therefore be divided into an urban and a rural problematic. The urban challenge is essentially to install an adequate treatment infrastructure to ensure that water is fully used, rather than wasted. Distribution networks will also continue to be tightened, though the impact on poor households that cannot afford to pay needs to be considered closely as well.

On the rural front, more rationalized agricultural activities need to be implemented, with a continued extension of the irrigation network, and perhaps even the replacement of unsuitable crops. The country has recovered from the severe droughts of the turn of the century, with the past two winters providing plenty of rain for the farmers. But the memories of the droughts are still fresh, and the country needs to prepare itself more than ever to prevent itself from suffering as much the next time.
Chris de Oliveira © Oxford Business Group 2004 http://www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com 
Article originally published by Oxford Business Group &provider 27-Sep-04 http://www.zawya.com/Story.cfm?id=ZAWYA20040927105510&Section=Countries&page=Morocco&channel=Features%2C%20Analysis%20and%20Opinion&objectid=13F83A62-8988-11D5-867E00D0B74A0D7C 
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