If the crisis of delegated waste management has not yet broken out, like what happened in Rabat, it risks happening in the coming weeks. Indeed, several problems have arisen hindering the proper management of this nonetheless vital sector, which has precipitated the intervention of the city council. Indeed, in the absence of a transfer quay to collect household waste from the commune of Salé, the companies in charge of managing this service, namely Techmed, Mechomar, and SOS, were supposed to transfer the waste to the Rabat landfills: those of Akrach and Oum Azza. But the first difficulty that has arisen for several months was the small size of the Techmed company's trucks, which did not allow for guaranteed proper waste collection. The vehicles of this company therefore had to make two round trips to deposit the same quantity collected by a standard vehicle. These repetitive trips during the day to Oum Azza thus reduced the frequency of passage of these vehicles. This had repercussions on the hygiene and cleanliness of the neighbourhoods, notably that of "Lamrissa", which has experienced, over the last few months, an unprecedented accumulation of rubbish. To this problem was added another even more serious one: the company in charge of managing the Oum Azza landfill prohibited, a few weeks ago, access to waste collection trucks coming from Salé. The officials cite as an argument the fact that the site is designed to accommodate only the waste of the capital. "We have, however, reached an agreement with this company during the last week to accommodate the trucks of the two companies Mechomar and SOS. As for the waste collected by Techmed, it will be transported to Akrach," explains Nourredine Lazrak, mayor of Salé, to Le Matin.

According to the president of the city council, this solution remains, however, temporary and will only last for the time necessary to develop the new land intended to accommodate the Salé waste transfer quay, which will be inaugurated, at the latest, next August. Indeed, the city of Salé will be equipped, for the first time, with its own public landfill. "The land with an area of 1 hectare belongs to the public domain. We were able to acquire it for the symbolic sum of 1,200 DH per square metre," stresses Mr. Lazrak. In order to accelerate the pace of implementation of this project, the mayor of Salé has just held a meeting with the governor and various partners of the project in order to study the measures to be taken to facilitate the procedures for its realisation. According to Nourredine Lazrak, it will first be a question of carrying out an environmental study of the site, which will take six months before starting the development work. Until then, the inhabitants of the twin sister of Rabat will have to be patient and get used to the spectacle of rubbish piled up every day in front of the doors of their homes while waiting for deliverance…

The situation is going from bad to worse in Salé. Alongside the problems posed by the absence of a landfill in the city neighbouring the capital, the neighbourhoods of this city will have to bear the consequences of the grumbling of the employees of the SOS company, engaged in a protest movement for two weeks already. The latter observed a six-day strike last week demanding a salary increase and better social support, like the former employees of the Veolia company.

Note that the employees already benefit from several social advantages and a salary equivalent to the minimum wage (SMIG).

-* The land that will serve as a landfill has an area of 1 hectare.

-* The waste collected by Techmed will be transported to Akrach.

-* The Oum Azza landfill has suspended its services to Salé.