Casablanca: Former wholesale market to be converted into gaming center
Will the former Casablanca wholesale market have a second life? The rehabilitation and reconversion project for this site has finally been unearthed. This collective heritage of the commune of Roches Noires will be transformed.
Its reconversion is also part of the projects of the Communal Action Plan (PAC), recently adopted. Located in the heart of the Belvédère district, the imposing building will be transformed into the “Casa Gaming e-sport center”, which will position itself as a physical meeting place for the digital generation. This concept will combine the key ingredients of digital literacy: games, music, content creation and digital know-how, with the aim of providing an inclusive environment for young people to connect, collaborate, and create. This center should offer a living environment conducive to the development of the neighborhood’s youth, fight juvenile delinquency, and promote social and sports integration.
According to initial estimates, this center should attract some 50,000 visitors a year. The restoration of the building for its conversion into a social and sports space will require a budget of 50 million Dirhams (US$ 5 million), the financing of which is split between the municipality (20%), and the Royal Moroccan Federation of Electronic Games (30%). The remainder will be paid by the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The reconversion program includes the redevelopment and renovation of the site, in order to install socio-cultural facilities there, but before that, consultation and alignment workshops will be held with the various stakeholders concerning the requirements of the future center. Then, a call for tenders will be launched in order to select the service provider responsible for the construction of the centre. As for the next steps, they can be summarized as follows: definition of the management model, implementation of animation levers with the Casa Events & Animation and Casa Patrimoine, mobilization and training of HR, and finally putting the center into operation and monitoring its performance. As a reminder, since 1997, the former wholesale market of Belvédère was held hostage between the municipality and the Dimco company (subsidiary of the Ynna Holding group). Both parties wished to acquire the former wholesale market, one to convert it into an Asswak Assalam hypermarket and the other into a nearby social and sports center. In the end, the municipality prevailed. This site is also the third one to be recovered out of the five municipal properties sought by the municipality, which wants to improve its revenue. The Zenata complex was the first one to be recovered in December 2016. The two other sites already vacated are the Moulay Rachid tennis complex (2017) and the former Belvédère “Crio Market” (2017). Sqala and Espace Plein Ciel Paradise are therefore the last sites to be included in the list of evacuations.
Aziza EL AFFAS
