Hespress learned from well-informed sources that demolition reports of illegal warehouses and "hangars" exposed manipulations in electricity supply permit applications, after copies of these reports were attached to monitoring reports requested by Mohamed Mhidia, Wali of the Casablanca-Settat region, from provincial governors, as part of the fight against illegal construction in urban and rural areas in the region, and to neutralize its impact on the ongoing "2030 World Cup" projects.
The same sources explained that territorial administration officials were surprised, during demolition operations, that a number of illegally constructed buildings had 220-volt and 380-volt electricity meters.
The newspaper's sources reported that officials of the central services at the Casablanca-Settat regional prefecture contacted officials of the regional multi-service company in the region and the competent services in the territorial communes located within their territorial jurisdiction where the illegal warehouses subject to recent demolition operations were located, in order to verify the existence of irregularities in the process of licensing electricity supply for the mentioned buildings, before it was discovered that the applicants for the permit had cheated using documents belonging to legal residences adjacent to the mentioned spaces, on the basis of indirectly diverting the electricity current to them.
The same sources highlighted that the data obtained indicated negligence at the level of preliminary inspection and subsequent monitoring of meter beneficiaries.
They confirmed that the Wali of the Casablanca-Settat region directed the governors of the Nouaceur, Mediouna, and Berrechid provinces to coordinate with the services of the Casablanca regional multi-service company regarding ongoing and future monitoring operations, especially regarding illegal supply and electricity theft from the public grid.
They explained that territorial officials had previously been provided with accurate reports, prepared at the central level based on complaints, notifications, and inspections received from local authority agents, regarding illegal warehouses in the Zaouia and Bouzanine areas in the Nouaceur province, as well as in Douar Khalqa, the Ouled Mlouk administrative annex in the Haraouine commune in the Mediouna province, and in Douar Ouled Hada in the Sidi Hajjaj Oued Hassar commune and Douar Hlalat in the Majatia Ouled Taleb commune in the same province.
Customs monitoring operations recently detected the involvement of lessors of "subsidized hangars" in the Mediouna province, on the outskirts of Casablanca, in manipulating water and electricity supply contracts, as they are linked to agricultural activity permits; while they are used for illegal industrial activities, emphasizing that inspectors observed high electricity consumption data in the warehouses in question and other buildings adjacent to them; which expanded the scope of the search for other illegal industrial units, which supply the market with unmonitored products and deprive the state of significant tax and customs revenues.
Hespress sources revealed that the Wali of the Casablanca-Settat region issued strict instructions to governors, pashas, and caids to inventory and audit the permits for the use of warehouses by individuals and companies, especially on the outskirts of the economic capital, before this process was recorded as slowing down due to administrative complexities mainly related to human resources.
They reported that the issued instructions included directives to audit the documents of the users and verify that they had obtained the necessary permits from the local authority and external services related to their field of competence, especially the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the General Administration of Customs and Indirect Taxes, and others, as well as to check their status regarding insurance for the safety of goods and workers, specifically against fire accidents, damage, and occupational diseases.
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