This is what emerges from the presentation presented this Tuesday by the First President of the Court of Auditors, Zineb El Adaoui, before the two Chambers of Parliament, and which shed light on the main results of the missions relating to the improvement of the investment framework, covering the valorization of dams, the mobilization of the private domain of the State for the benefit of investment, career management, internal tourism, digital development as well as programs and conventions integrated territorial development.
In terms of the development of dams, and in relation to its permanent support of public programs and projects relating to water, the Court of Auditors has carried out several audit missions relating to irrigation water and the distribution of drinking water , as well as liquid sanitation and the supply of drinking water to the rural world, recalled Ms. El Adaoui, adding that the Court of Auditors worked to evaluate the strategy and actions for the valorization of dams adopted by the documents water planning, in particular the National Water Strategy 2009-2030, the National Water Plan 2010-2030 and the Master Plans for the Integrated Development of Water Resources (PDAIRE) 2011-2030.
The Court of Auditors also noted that certain programs contained in the planning documents have not been carried out, in particular those relating to the rehabilitation of water transport channels from dams and the development of small dams, in addition to the delay recorded in the construction of a number of dams compared to forecasts, since out of around thirty large dams planned during the 2010-2020 period, only 16 were built, indicated Ms. El Adaoui, noting that this situation is mainly due to delay in starting the land expropriation procedure and resorting to additional contracts to cover additional work.
Concerning the drinking water supply projects from the dams, the Court of Auditors reported the cancellation of 6 projects among 19 others scheduled, while recording a delay of more than 2 years for 13 projects, in addition to the non-implementation objectives of agricultural and tourist development of dams.
As for the mobilization of the private domain of the State for the benefit of investment, the Court of Auditors warned of the structural shortcomings characterizing its management and which mainly concern the incomplete clearance of land.
In this context, the Court of Auditors called for work to reformulate the land reserve in order to meet the needs of State policies relating to investment and different sectoral strategies, to accelerate registration and the clearance of land in the private domain of the State to facilitate their protection and their mobilization for investment, as well as the valorization of this type of land.
The Court of Auditors also insisted on the need to integrate these main elements into the framework of a national strategy for the private domain of the State, setting the needs and priorities in the medium and long term for the different government departments.
With regard to quarry management, the Court of Auditors noted several “shortcomings”, noting that the management of the sector lacks a global approach aimed at optimal and sustainable management of resources and valorization of extracted materials, calling for strengthening of the professional nature of the quarry operators, in addition to the inequality of opportunities in terms of investment in this sector.
The Court also called for the legal framework governing this sector to be completed, particularly with regard to the valorization of extracted materials, in addition to the establishment of a common electronic platform bringing together the different stakeholders in the management of this sector.
For the tourism sector, the Court of Auditors recommends reconsidering the governance of internal tourism development projects, through strengthening the role of decentralized public authorities in monitoring the implementation of tourism development and promotion projects and coordination between the actors concerned at the territorial level, calling for the establishment of diversified tourist offers responding to the aspirations of internal tourists, in particular through the development of rural and sustainable tourism projects, as well as the establishment of a strategy of adequate communication making internal tourism a priority sector.
Regarding digital development, the Court of Auditors considers that the strategies adopted “have not yet led to the expected results”, noting that the achievements of the national strategy “Plan Maroc Digital 2020”, as a national strategic framework for digital development for the 2016-2020 period remains “below aspirations”, due to the weak support of the various parties concerned in both the public and private sectors.