The Mohammed VI Tangier Tech City project was first proposed in 2016. It is a $10 billion project with the Chinese group Haite to develop an industrial city that will host up to 300,000 locals. It envisions a large Chinese-style park on the edge of the Mediterranean, built on about 2,500 acres with room to expand up to nearly 5,000 acres.
The deal was finalized at a ceremony in Rabat attended by a number of Moroccan ministries, including industry and trade, water, economy and finance, as well as the Tangier regional council, the Bank of Africa, the Tangier Mediterranean Special Agency and the Tangier Tech Management Company.
From the Chinese, executives from Beijing Zhonglu Urban Development Corporation, China Communications Construction and its subsidiaries China Road and Bridge and CCCC Investment.
It aims to create a sustainable, integrated and intelligent industrial city that will inject a new dynamic into the economic activities of the kingdom and consolidate its anchoring in the Euro-Mediterranean, according to a press statement from the Ministry of Industry and Trade. It will host about 200 chinese companies.
It will include a 947-hectare industrial acceleration zone, where the main manufacturing plant will be located, as well as, a 1,220-hectare smart city made up of residential, leisure, tourism developments, also including the public infrastructure necessary for the proper functioning of the city.
The businesses will be in different sectors which will include automotive, aerospace, textile, electronics and machinery factories on site.
During the signing ceremony, the minister for industry and trade, Ryan Mezzour said “it is an industrial megapole that will support our national and industrial strategy and thus strengthens Morocco’s international attractiveness and competitiveness”.
The project that was originally sponsored by Haite Group is now sponsored by China Communications that signed a memorandum of understanding with the Moroccan government on the 26th of April.
The completion of the project is now slated for 2027.