They highlighted in a statement to the MAP agency on the second day of the second regular session that the program, which was presented yesterday by Mr. Taoufiq Hjira the Minister in charge of housing and reconstruction to the Council, will contribute to the elimination of all forms of inadequate housing in the southern regions and will also respond to the growing demand in the field of housing resulting from demographic growth in these regions.
Ms. Zahra Chakkaf said in this context, she hopes that this program will be activated in the near term to meet the demographic constraints of this region. She described the interventions that followed the presentation of the minister as “constructive and open, allowing everybody to display all the needs of each region, as well as to make some adjustments and suggestions on the program put forward by the Government in this regard".
For his part, Mr. Mohamed Ahmed Bahi said that the program came in response to the demographic growth witnessed in the southern provinces over the past three decades, highlighting that this growth necessitated the development of an emergency program to provide decent housing for residents of Al Wahda camps, as well as for the benefit of returnees to the homeland and potential returnees. He stressed the need for attention for the outskirts of major cities and rural areas through the delivery of the necessary facilities and infrastructure to dismantle the isolation of these areas.
Mr. Mustafa al-Naimi said that the interventions made during this session made it possible to develop a set of practical suggestions in the housing sector and the reconstruction would be an added value to correct physical imbalances in the Southern Territories. He stressed the need to deal with issues of reconstruction and soil preparation in order to provide decent housing for all social strata.
For his part, Mr. Omar Dakhil called for speeding the pace of implementation of this program and taking into account the specificities and needs of each region. He also expressed satisfaction over the general atmosphere in which discussions took place within the Council on the subject of housing and reconstruction in the southern provinces, qualifying the project as integrated.
In a similar statement, Mr. Ahmed Haji Director General of the Agency for development of the South said that the Agency keeps pace with the various development projects in the southern regions, recalling in this context, the efforts of creation and processing of the villages of fishermen in the sectors of cleansing liquid and income-generating activities.
Mr. Haji said that the Agency is also working to implement an ambitious program to preserve all oases in Guelmim , Assa Zak and Tata, and organizes cultural programs to support writers in the southern provinces, and restore old palaces.
In the field of employment, Mr. Haji said that the Agency is working in conjunction with the National Initiative for Employment to set up a local initiative to facilitate access to jobs for the region’s youth through “Dar Al Moubadara” initiative." Works of the second session of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs continued in closed meetings.
Mr. Ahmed Taoufik Hjira made yesterday a presentation to the Council during which he highlighted the outline of the new program for housing and reconstruction in the southern regions and processing of more than 68 pieces of land to produce approximately 124 thousand housing units at 4.5 billion MAD. This program aims to eliminate all forms of inadequate housing in the southern regions and respond to the growing demand in the area of housing needs and future needs resulting from demographic growth in this region of the Kingdom
Source: MAP
(News and events concerning Western Sahara issue / Corcas