The American company Ecomed, in charge of managing the Médiouna landfill, is in the dock. A report from the commission in charge of monitoring the hygiene sector under the City Council has noted several dysfunctions in the implementation of the delegated management agreement concluded in 2008. Indeed, the American company promised to undertake a series of actions and measures aimed at redeveloping and operating the site while respecting the required standards. Five years later, we are far from the mark, the report indicates.

In this sense, Abdelghani Merhani, head of the said commission, revealed to us that all the investments promised by the company concerning the development and management of the site have remained a dead letter.

He also indicated to us that the Médiouna site, like almost all Moroccan landfills, lacks a biogas capture system and a leachate drainage network. It also suffers from the absence of soil insulation to prevent infiltration.

The Casablanca official affirmed that liquid discharges and odours released by the piles of rubbish end up directly in the soil and the atmosphere, without any filtration. Hence the pollution of the groundwater in the Casablanca region within a radius of at least 20 km around Médiouna.

Another criticism, and not the least, is that Ecomed is still delaying the closure of the landfill, which was supposed to be closed in 2010. A disengagement deemed unacceptable given that the site has reached an intolerable level of danger. It has become a real threat to the health of local residents and the entire Casablanca population. Indeed, the site is over 50 years old, whereas the lifespan of a landfill should not exceed 20 to 25 years, and it covers an area of 70 ha. It receives an average of 3,000 tonnes of household waste produced each day by the people of Casablanca, in addition to industrial and hospital waste.

The report of the said commission points the finger at certain complicities between this American company and the former head of the hygiene sector at the City Council and calls into question the independence of the site's management. Our source goes further. It estimates that the said official, also called the "Iron Lady", continues to manage the site even after her dismissal, via the four City Council officials present on site. "This situation challenges us because it raises many questions about the authenticity of the operations, their tonnages, and the nature of the waste unloaded. Is it really household, industrial, and hospital waste?" asked Abdelghani Merhani.

The latter did not hesitate to open fire on the other companies in charge of waste collection in Casablanca, accused of swallowing up colossal budgets without succeeding in their mission: making Casablanca a clean city. "The hygiene sector costs the people of Casablanca dearly. From 2004 to 2012, the budget went from 200 to 521 million DH, an increase of more than 150%. However, despite these financial efforts, the sector remains below the expectations of the metropolis's population," our source confided to us, while thinking that the three companies do not respect the clauses of the delegated management contract as well as those of the specifications. As proof, the increase in penalties applied to these companies. Indeed, the report of the hygiene sector monitoring commission indicated that the sums imposed reached 18.88 million DH until August 2012 against 10.34 million DH in 2010.

The report sounds the alarm. It believes that the City Council is called upon to review the delegated management contract in this sector, while specifying that future contracts must take into consideration the socio-spatial developments of the city. "We must give more priority to control and monitoring mechanisms. Otherwise, we risk suffering the same failures as in the past," concluded Abdelghani Merhani.