Casa Tramway

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 IFC is considering providing an A Loan and a Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Program (MCPP) Loan to the Region of Casablanca-Settat (the “Region”), to finance i) the Region’s contribution to the construction of two new tramway lines T3 and T4 in Casablanca (“Component 1”) and the upgrading of rural roads in the region (“Component 2”). Component 1The tramway project will be implemented by Casa Transports, a local development company (Société de Développement Local) established to implement mass public transportation networksin Casablanca. The Region is a shareholder of Casa Transports. Casa Transports will be supported by a project management contractor responsible for the design, planning, procurement and construction management of the project (venture “EGIS Rail/Novec/Atelier A1”, referred hereafter as ”Project Management Contractor” or “PMC“). The PMC will coordinate and supervise construction activities of the contractors which will be contracted by Casa Transports. Construction is planned to start in 2019, and commissioning is expected in 2022. According to the existing operation agreement and until the end of the validity, Casa Transports will delegate operation of the new lines to the same operator currently operating tramway line T1 since 2012 and T2 since 2019 (“RATP Dev”, a subsidiary of RATP, the urban transport company in Paris). Line T3 (14 km – 20 stations) will connect Boulevard Driss el Harti through Boulevard Mohammed VI and Derb Soltane to the Station Casa Port and Line T4 (11.5 km – 19 stations) will connect the Industrial Zone Moulay Rachid through Hay Lalla Meriem and Sidi Othmane to the Place Victoire and Boulevard Meskini. The project will also include the refurbishment of the entire width of the streets from building to building and improvement of the pedestrian spaces (achieving an overall increase of 15% of pedestrian dedicated areas). The tramway platform will be constructed within vehicular traffic or parking lanes or median platforms of existing streets and its construction does not require any land acquisition. All trees will be protected and, as needed, translocated, and an additional 4,600 trees will be planted as part of the project. Component 1 also includes the replacement and enlargement of two bridges passing over railway (Boulevard Mohamed VI and Boulevard Oulad Ziane) and the construction of a new bridge of the A3 motorway and its two access ramps. The tramway will not lead to changes to the current traffic pattern as no roads will be permanently closed or traffic direction modified. The project will include the construction of a new Maintenance Center in Al Hantate, on a 6.3-hectare land plot owned by the Municipality and given to Casa Transports use as construction staging area for Line T2. The Maintenance Center will serve both tram cars and buses and will include several facilities: a maintenance building with service lanes, maintenance workshops, a depot for tram car parking and bus parking, a washing facility, a gas station, administrative building, and an electrical substation..  Component 2Component 2 under the proposed investment consists of upgrading around 640 km of rural roads. This program is part of the second phase of a larger program called `Massaleek` conducted by the Region to upgrade 4,500 km of roads. The program aims at supporting local communities to access basic services easier and safer in all weather conditions, including reducing the number of areas regularly cut off due to road damages caused by bad weather.  The program consists of several phases: the first phase (876 km) is about to be completed; procurement of the second phase (ca. 1,600 km), which will be partly targeted by the proposed investment, is expected to start by end of 2019. The selection of roads under Component 2 has been initiated based on the requests made by the rural communes based on their analysis of the needs at the level of the villages included in their territory, and prioritized by the Region using criteria such as affected population and access to public services (schools, markets, hospitals, mosques, …). While the process for the selection of the road segments to be financed under the proposed investment was not completed at the time of IFC’s review, the list of the rural communes included in the proposed program has been established and is disclosed together with this ESRS.  The list of the road segments selected for financing under this proposed investment will be disclosed when such list becomes available. Massaleek program aims at rehabilitating and upgrading existing rural roads and does not include the construction of any new road. Most of the planned upgrades will include upgrading unpaved roads of 3-4 meter width, by paving them with bituminous layer or superficial treatment (MCR) material, or by impregnation with a stabilization polymer and widening to 4-6 m width. A limited number of upgrades will only require paving/stabilization of already widened MCR roads. Road upgrading works will be managed by the Region through design and construction contracts of about 70-80 km each, and with the technical support from an external engineering consultancy (Smailia Structure/ESMO or the “engineering consultant”).