Marrakech's Waste Management Authority Explores New Strategies
The Grand Marrakech municipal authority is currently evaluating the potential adoption of a delegated management model for its domestic waste treatment and valorization center, in conjunction with a transfer station. This initiative comes as part of an effort to launch a call for proposals aimed at conducting a technical and economic feasibility study for this project, which has an estimated cost of 960,000 dirhams. Experts indicate that this phase does not involve assigning the management of the center to a private company or announcing its privatization. Instead, it focuses on preparing a comprehensive study that will assess the feasibility of implementing the delegated management model, while also defining its conditions, costs, and potential impacts on the management of this facility.
Sources suggest that this initiative is significant, given the crucial role that waste processing facilities play in managing domestic waste in Greater Marrakech. These facilities are responsible for receiving, sorting, and recycling materials that can be valorized as well as disposing of non-recyclable waste through environmentally compliant landfilling practices. The project raises important questions regarding the future model that the authority may adopt for managing this facility, anticipated financial costs, oversight conditions for the company that might take over operations, and guarantees related to environmental protection and mitigating the impacts of waste processing and landfilling.
Moreover, there is a pressing need to determine whether the outcomes of the study will lead to a change in the management approach of the center, potentially enhancing the efficiency of waste processing and valorization while ensuring cost control, quality of services, and compliance with environmental commitments.
European Airlines Dominate Marrakech's Flight Traffic
In another significant development, the international flight schedule for Marrakech Menara Airport reveals that air traffic continues to be heavily concentrated around four primary European markets—France, the United Kingdom, Spain, and Italy—which collectively account for a remarkable 67.4% of the scheduled flights and seats over a one-week period. According to an analysis by tourism expert Zoubeir Bouhout, these four markets provided a total of 503 flights out of 746 international flights scheduled to Marrakech between November 2 and November 8, 2026, amounting to 92,004 seats out of a total of 136,442 available seats.
France leads the list of outbound markets to the Red City, with 231 flights offering 40,943 seats, followed by the United Kingdom with 110 flights and 20,897 seats, Spain with 92 flights and 16,889 seats, and Italy in fourth place with 70 flights and 13,275 seats. These figures highlight the substantial weight of these four markets in Marrakech's international air connectivity, contrasting sharply with the relatively limited share from other markets, where the number of scheduled flights from destinations outside Europe did not exceed 20, providing just 3,171 seats during the same period, according to the data presented in the analysis.
This distribution underscores the need to diversify the tourist markets contributing visitors to Marrakech and assesses the city's ability to expand its air connectivity to new destinations. Such diversification is crucial in reducing the heavy reliance on a limited number of European markets and opening avenues for attracting visitors from other geographic regions. The figures also emphasize the importance of the French, British, Spanish, and Italian markets in the air transport dynamics towards Marrakech, not only in terms of the number of flights but also regarding the capacity provided by airlines during the studied period.
As reported by almarrakchia.net.
