Casablanca Beachfront: A Coastal Model Doomed to Disappear
Casablanca holds its breath. Its iconic Corniche now teeters between a living heritage and the uncertain promises of a coastline under construction. The legendary private pools — Miami, Sun Beach, Tahiti, Paradise, Tropicana — embedded in the rock for nearly a century, are caught in an unprecedented legal grey zone. With no confirmed development plan and no formal regularization, uncertainty looms over these places so dear to the people of Casablanca. As the 2030 World Cup approaches, the city is preparing to transform its coastline, but in the absence of a clear plan, rumors, hopes, and fears mingle, leaving an entire city suspended by yet unseen decisions.
This “Casablanca Riviera” is under strain. Behind the parasols, a countdown has begun. Since 2018, the Government has launched a broad plan to reclaim the maritime public domain (DPM), resulting in frozen fees and no official renewal of concessions. This vagueness traps operators in a Kafkaesque limbo: each summer, operation permits are renewed, yet no regularization or explanation follows, say the managers. Five years of administrative vacuum during which the pools continue to operate — but only just.
The Silent Pain of Casablancans
This legal grey area has real consequences: suspended service contracts, frozen investment projects, precarious jobs. « Just two months of renewal, just to see how things go «, suggest shop tenants to the beach managers… With no visibility, no one signs up for the long term. And yet, these establishments employ hundreds every summer — lifeguards, cooks, waiters, cleaners — sustaining a well-oiled ecosystem, from the doughnut seller to the seasonal DJ.
Among Casablancans, the pain is silent. Losing the Corniche would mean erasing a collective memory — emotional, social, and urban. Families learned to swim there, teenagers fell in love, elders rediscover their youth. You don’t just wipe away a living postcard. Not even for a World Cup month.
In the background, of course, is 2030. The football mega-event stirs ministerial corridors and hastens infrastructure projects. Tram lines are being extended, the Mohammed V Complex is being renovated, and the urban landscape is set for transformation: Casablanca wants to shine. Rumors hint at pedestrianizing the Beachfront segment facing the private pools to host festivities and fan zones. Others speak of outright demolitions. Still others foresee an upscale requalification, catering to premium visitors uninterested in overcrowded beaches. For now, nothing is decided.
The case of Dar Bouazza, where several illegal constructions were demolished in 2025, serves as a warning. Law 81-01 of 2016, which strictly governs the use of the DPM, is theoretically uncompromising. Yet the case of the Casablanca pools defies binary logic. Neither ephemeral nor recent, they are carved directly into the rock, do not obstruct the view or promenade, and their status resembles more a consolidated tolerance than unlawful occupation.
Radia LAHLOU
