On 8 January 2009, His Majesty King Mohammed VI launched the Chrafate New City project. "Since then, the development company Al Omrane Chrafate, a subsidiary of the Al Omrane group in Tangier, has been working to complete this project as quickly as possible," explained the Director General of Al Omrane Chrafate, Mohamed Jallal, during the conference organised by Rotary Doyen. The new city currently under construction is intended to accompany the profound socio-economic changes that the Tangier-Tetouan region is experiencing, particularly with the start of activity at the Tangier Med port and the completion of numerous economic activity zones linked to it, including the Renault industrial complex and the Melloussa-Jouamaa activity zones.

With an area of 1,300 hectares, the new city will offer, by 2020, 30,000 homes to some 150,000 inhabitants. Undeniably, Chrafate is a sustainable project in more ways than one: through its viability and economic profitability, through its infrastructure and, finally, through its eco-responsibility and its humanist vision. It is a highly strategic project for the development of the northern regions, which constitute an eminent economic hub of the Kingdom. Chrafate will itself be backed by an industrial zone managed by TMSA. It positions itself as a green city that wants to respect its environment, preserve rare resources, particularly water, and favour clean and renewable energies, wind power in particular. Indeed, crossed by two large green corridors, Chrafate will have large green spaces and will accommodate a limited number of inhabitants. The new city especially wants to avoid transforming into a "dormitory town" beyond the industrial zones. It encourages the creation of diverse activities (shops, leisure, attractions...), capable of ensuring its lasting animation and making it lively and pleasant to live in. It also aims to equip itself, in the future, with a hub dedicated to knowledge (university, higher schools, campus...). The Director General of Al Omrane ended his presentation by recalling that the work on the first phase would be completed in 2016. In total, 12,800 homes equipped with electricity and water and whose cost is estimated at 825.43 million dirhams.

"The 2nd phase will be started once orders are received to meet the demand of Renault or Tangier Med port workers, but also people from nearby douars," added the director of Al Omrane, stressing that the new city of Chrafate would have a bright future.

A complete study on taking into account the relocation of the douars located on the site was conducted in 2009. It made it possible to count 150 households living in 3 isolated douars. The scenario adopted, in agreement with the commune and the authorities, is that of relocating these people to the new city in R+2 lots (plots of 120 square metres). The main reason is that the homes concerned are very frequently flooded, as they are located in the wadi bed. These lots will be financed by the compensation paid to the same people as part of the clearing of land rights (collective lands).

The compensation file is managed by Al Omrane in relation to the Directorate of Rural Affairs at the Ministry of the Interior. Because of its proximity to the new city, Douar Brarak risks transforming – and the process is already underway – into an area prone to unregulated urbanisation. The objective of this study is to propose a realistic and adapted solution for this rural centre by taking into account its various characteristics and the imminent evolution of the region.

-* Chrafate is located 18 km from Tangier, at the crossroads of several strategic axes.

-* 769 ha of surface area.

-* 150,000 inhabitants.

-* Completion of: 30,000 homes.

-* 24 billion dirhams of investments.

-* 2.4 billion dirhams of infrastructure.

-* The completion of the project is carried out in two phases, each of them divided into several tranches.

-* The first tranche of the work of the first phase started in 2009 and will be completed in 2016.