The Tanger Free Zone (TFZ) is the flagship project of Morocco’s industrial policy.
New zones coming on stream this year such as Tangiers’s automotive City are helping it hit several goals at the same time.
The first is economic. Tangiers is now a commercial hub to rival Casablanca, creating tens of thousands of jobs.
The other goal is social. The north has been neglected for decades.
Now its renaissance is tangible in new roads, construction sites, cheap housing dotting the hills, and Tangiers’s buzzing city centre.
Opened in 2007, Tanger Med port will eventually have an 8.5m-container capacity, putting it on par with the biggest ports.
New rail and road infrastructure link it to the rest of the country.
TFZ has attracted over 500 companies in the aeronautic, automobile and electronics sectors, employing 35,000 people.
“Many existing operations are planning extensions, and we are expecting 45,000 workers here by 2015,” says Mehdi Tazi, of the Tanger Med Special agency, the public-private partnership that runs the zone.
For Ayoub Daoudi of sensors and controls manufacturer Esterline, proximity to Europe and infrastructure were important.
So was the skilled workforce. “There is no point having cheap labour if you lose out in quality,” he said.
Renault has been transformational. SNOP, a French auto-part manufacturer that won a renault contract, has now built a 15,000m2 factory, “and we are looking at a 20,000m3 extension,” says manager Tageddine Bennis.
“Renault is why we came, but we are now getting contracts from around the world.”●
