The High Atlas will have its own development agency
After setting up Special Account 126 and the emergency program, Fouzi Lekjaâ, minister in charge of the Budget, is back before the finance committee of both Houses of Parliament, this time to present and pass the draft decree-law on the creation of the High Atlas Development Agency.
This is an executive entity dedicated to implementing the emergency reconstruction and rehabilitation program for areas affected by the Al Haouz earthquake. This piece of legislation, approved by the Government Council, has been submitted to the House of Representatives. We need to move fast and ensure that the emergency program, estimated to cost 120 billion dirhams, is carried out quickly and efficiently over a 5-year period, from 2024 to 2028. To achieve this, the agency will need to have the necessary flexibility, following the example of the MCA, which took charge of the American Millennium Challenge program.
This is all the more important given that the royal directives for the implementation of this program could not have been clearer: the aim is to adopt exemplary governance whose components are speed, efficiency, precision, and convincing results. The aim is for the general reconstruction and rehabilitation program for affected areas to become a model of integrated and balanced territorial development. With this in mind, the draft decree-law aims to create the Agency in the form of a state-owned entity, with legal personality and financial autonomy. Thus, the High Atlas Development Agency will be responsible for supervising the implementation of this program and managing its projects. A major clarification: the text creating the agency also provides for its dissolution no later than December 31, 2029. The draft decree-law determines the missions and prerogatives assigned to this agency, particularly the implementation of all components of the program. On the list of missions is the execution of reconstruction and rehabilitation projects in affected areas, taking into account the environmental dimension and respecting the unique heritage, traditions, and lifestyles of this population, and this without sacrificing seismic construction standards and the completion of social and economic development projects in the areas targeted by the program. This agency will have to ensure the synergy and coherence of the projects included in the program, in coordination with the different administrations and operators concerned. It will also be responsible for monitoring program implementation and preparing reports on achievements, in particular project progress, expenditure commitments and payments. The agency will assess the impact of completed projects using performance indicators.
Mohamed CHAOUI
