The Fès-Meknès Regional Council has approved several agreements for the creation of a Grand Theatre, a museum, a Fine Arts Institute, and a Congress Palace in the spiritual city.
The city of Fès will be equipped with major cultural and artistic projects that will address the glaring lack from which the Kingdom's spiritual capital suffers. Indeed, the Fès-Meknès Regional Council, meeting in an ordinary session in Fès, approved partnership agreements of an urgent nature, which were submitted for review by the primary authority of the region's wilaya.
These agreements concern the implementation of important projects in Fès with a total investment of 365 million DH. They will involve the contribution of several ministerial departments, as well as the various Fès Councils (regional, prefectural, and communal). The aforementioned agreements concern the creation, over four years, of a Grand Theatre, a museum, a Fine Arts Institute, and a Congress Palace. It should be noted that these projects have long been among the grievances of cultural, artistic, and academic circles, as well as tourism professionals and the population of Fès.
According to a financial plan, the Fès Grand Theatre project will require a budget of 100 million DH, with contributions from the Ministries of Culture (25 million), Interior (22 million), Housing (22 million), and the regional, prefectural, and municipal councils of Fès (31 million). The museum project will require a budget of 80 million DH, which will be covered by the Ministry of the Interior (27 million), Housing (22 million), and the city's three elected councils (31 million). As for the Congress Palace project, it has been allocated a budget of 100 million DH and will involve the Ministries of Industry and Trade (25 million), Interior (22 million DH), Housing (22 million), and the three elected councils (31 million).
For its part, the project to create the Fès Fine Arts Institute by 2019 will mobilize a budget of 60 million DH, with contributions from the departments of Culture (20 million), Interior (10 million), Housing (10 million), and the three elected councils (20 million). Furthermore, the Regional Council has decided to allocate a subsidy of 15 million DH to the Fès Regional Security Prefecture over three years.
This budget is divided between the Regional Council (8 million), the Urban Commune (6 million), and the Prefectural Council (1 million). This amount will allow the regional police administration to acquire transport, IT equipment, and surveillance cameras. In parallel, regarding environmental improvement, a budget of around 10.5 million DH will be allocated by the departments in charge of Water, Water and Forests, as well as the concerned local authorities for the dredging of the Oued Fès and its protection against an aquatic plant (Pistia stratiotes) that exacerbates the pollution of this river, which flows through communes in the Moulay Yaacoub province and the city of Fès. While waiting for all these projects to materialize, the population of the region can only dream of a better future.
