Thursday, September 11. It is 9 a.m. Rue Jaâfar Al Barmaki, in Hay Mohammadi is crowded. It is not easy to make one's way through. And for good reason. Vehicles parking all along the street in front of the poultry slaughterhouse market are blocking the passage. Crates of poultry are piled up on the pavement. Traders are conducting their transactions outside the market. Professionals do not hesitate to unload their goods on the side of the road. Citizens are also doing their shopping outside the market. Activity within the site is rare. Despite this upheaval, one does not feel much of the strong foul odour that marks this street. "A large part of the market's activity is temporarily transferred outside while waiting for the rehabilitation of the site," explains one of the traders.

Indeed, this market has been transformed, for more than a year, into an open-air construction site. The competent authority, the urban commune, has decided to transform the leprous building into poultry slaughterhouses meeting a minimum of the required standards. As of today, this old cement factory improvised as a poultry market has been renovated to 90%. We can already see the renewed floor and the structural work completed. The hangars threatening to collapse have been consolidated. The redevelopment work launched also concerns the liquid sanitation and electricity networks, as well as the waterproofing coating. The new market will be equipped with a police station and will allow access to the hygiene service.

It should be noted that the total cost of the redevelopment work has exceeded 700 MDH. Currently, we are waiting for the agreement of the Wali of Greater Casablanca to release an additional sum of 360,000 DH, necessary to set up a metal framework in order to protect the market users from climatic hazards. This additional budget, which should be available within two months, will also be used to dig a well within the market in order to avoid the use of drinking water. While waiting for the official opening of the poultry slaughterhouses, the market could open its doors in the coming days in order to welcome traders and consumers in appropriate conditions. It should be remembered that the redevelopment of the poultry market in Hay Mohammadi is only a temporary solution while waiting to find an appropriate piece of land to host it. The location of this space within a residential area will always make it a risk zone, according to professionals. Indeed, in the absence of permanent cleaning, the feathers and remains of degraded poultry deprive the inhabitants of Hay Khalil II of fresh air, notably in the hot season.

In search of an appropriate location

The City Council had tried to place the wholesale poultry market next to the red meat slaughterhouses in Sidi Othmane, but this solution did not meet hygiene standards. The veterinary service of the urban commune of Casablanca is against the location of the wholesale poultry market within the city. The latter has put a sanitary block on this project because of the odours and waste spread which would represent a real threat of contamination for red meats. It should be noted that to redevelop or build a poultry market respecting hygiene standards, the Ministry of Agriculture should also give its agreement.