Seminar Africities – 2009 Marrakesh (Morocco)

Topic of the seminar : “African regional and Local governments, response to the global crisis:
Promoting sustainable local development and employment“.

Special session organized by Codatu, with the support of the DGCL Morocco.

To come up to the stakes of the sustainable local development and employment in cities within the context of the global crisis, multimodal mobility systems must be developed with a greater involvement of the local governments in cooperation with the States. The session focused on the promotion of an efficient public transportation offer with the development of public transport companies and major innovations like investment in tramway. Presentations and discussions stood on a growing involvement of cities, a strong contribution from the other artisanal elements of the public transport offer, without forgetting the environmental issues and climate change for which an efficient transport public is a consensual answer.

This session was an opportunity to cross the North and Sub-Saharian Africa contexts and experiences. They have convergences and specificities (X. Godard’s synthesis document), which were explained through the examination of different experiences :

Casablanca

• Paper from M Sajid on the transportation plan of the city and the implementation of the first tram line which will be replaced by the RER.

Rabat

• Paper from L. Essakl and L. Boutaleb on the Valley’s Bouregreb development with the implementation of the tramway’s network, link between Rabat and Sale.

Morocco

• Paper from A. Chadali on the institutional reform of urban transport in Morocco.

Douala

• Paper from J. Yango on the agreement between the urban community and the bus company Socatur.
• Paper from M. Sahabana on the vulnerability and limitations of the small-scale transport: taxis and motorbikes.

Dakar

• Additional information given by C. Diou on the replacement of the rapid buses fleet and their organization.

Two major lessons emerge from this very interesting session:

1. After a period during which the urban transport sector was neglected, the Moroccan authorities gave it priority, making reforms and implementation, they could inspire some decision makers in Sub Saharan Africa, in spite of the difficulties;
2. Projects of mass transport (tram …) are really urban projects that involve not only the simple transport engineering but also takes an active part in the urban development.

The following recommendations for African governments can be made:

1. To prioritize the intervention of local authorities in the management of mobility, not against the States but with their necessary support;
2. To adopt a global approach to mobility, including roads and many transport modes, the mass transit transport like buses, trams, … are only a component of them, (of course important to structure the network);
3. To provide the local authorities with adapted means (transport traffic services, recognized status for the civil servants), with a distinction between the management and the planning;
4. To establish hierarchical and integrated systems over of mass transport network which structure the multimillionaires cities;
5. To act on the modernization and professionalization of the small-scale transport, which has to be integrated in the transport network as a part of it;
6. To increase the networks of exchange and cooperation, South-South and North South so to share the development of the knowledge and culture of urban mobility.