The plague of unlicensed constructions

More than 32,048 fines and offenses were recorded in 2021 in the field of town planning and construction. Unlicensed construction is the main violation that is observed, with an annual average of 31,729 offenses of this type. This type of constructions have dominated the statistics of the Presidency of the General Prosecutor’s Office for almost a decade, from 2013 to 2021. The census carried out by the General Prosecutor’s Office also includes other violations of law No. 66-12 relating to the control and enforcement measures in the field of urban planning and construction offences such as non-compliance with the construction plan, construction of a housing estate without a permit, and construction on public property. It is a form of spoliation of the real estate of the Government ! (see L’Economiste issue # 4672 of December 21, 2015). To counter these illegal practices, the magistrates of the Public Prosecutor’s Office see to the implementation of precautionary measures: interruption of construction work, seizure of building materials, or demolition of buildings. These measures are used in the presence of representatives of the municipalities and of the judicial police. It remains to be seen why unlicensed constructions are dominant. “First of all, what is at issue is the complexity and delays in the procedure to secure a building permit, which might take six months as a minimum. Then there are cities that are not fully covered by the land registry. Some owners do not have a land title and thus resort to clandestine construction”, said Chakib Benabdellah, president of the Architects’ Association. The land title is one of the documents necessary to submit to the municipality to start construction work, representing a kind of ID card which justifies the owner’s capacity, the location of the property, its area, and its topographic limits. Moreover, rural areas are not immune to illegal construction either, even if the legal data do not distinguish rural areas from urban areas. Violation of the regulations occurs for example in “Melk”  land or collective land, notes the presidency of the Architects’ Association. The “Melk”  lands are property based on a deed issued by Muslim notaries public. These lands are not registered with the land registry, even if it is true that the National Land Registry, Cadaster, and Cartography Agency (ANCFCC) has initiated a vast agricultural land registration operation a decade ago. Collective land rather belongs to a tribe. Normally, its members only have a right of enjoyment and not an individual right of ownership.

Faiçal FAQUIHI