“Cities Without Slums” is an initiative launched by the Moroccan government aimed to tackle the chronic shortage of affordable housing. New city of Tamesna launched in 2007 in an effort to house the residents of the informal settlements in the rural regions of Sidi Yahya Zaer (SYZ) as a part of this initiative. Early proposals of the new city were modest, yet the end result is much bigger than planned. Although the project was meant to alleviate the high housing demand in Rabat and Temara, the newly constructed units were aimed towards the middle class and featured market grade housing that is unaffordable to those living in the slums. When the prices were dropped  and residents began populating the new city in 2010, two-thirds of the people refuse to relocate to Tamesna, citing poor living conditions, small quarters, and the cost of social housing (high mortgage are put upon those who move into Tamesna).Residents who moved in refused to make payments, built illegal extensions, and demanded better maintenance and infrastructure. Public commodities such as infrastructure, schools, churches, parks etc. lagged behind the construction of housing, turning Tamesna into a dormitory town.

      A total of 28,119 inhabitants have established and 11.000 housing units built within the New City of Tamsna in 2014. There were still much work to be done, however, as more than 55.000 dwellings wereplanned. More than 3,000 household paid for their houses in advanced and was not delivered their units in 2015. King Mohammed VI ordered an inquiry into the problem, and since then the development on the project seemed to have completely stopped.

RELATED MEDIA COVERS