URBAN DEVELOPMENT I

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The Rabat Urban Development Project in Morocco is aimed at improving the living conditions of urban poor in Rabat. It will introduce solutions to some of the most difficult problems facing the Moroccan urban sector: inadequate urban planning, financing and management. The project consists of five interrelated components: (i) comprehensive squatter upgrading in the three quarters of Douars Doum, Maadid and Rajja. This upgrading will include rehabilitation and extension of infrastructure, improvement and expansion of commercial installations and home improvements through self-help; (ii) an experimental Sites and Services/Housing scheme; (iii) an employment generation program to create about 2,500 new jobs in the project area; (iv) community services equipment to improve garbage collection, fire fighting and emergency services; and (v) technical assistance to strengthen the institutional arrangements and technical capabilities of the executing agencies. The main risks faced by the project will be: (i) poor coordination among different agencies involved in project implementation and inadequate staffing provisions; (ii) delay in land acquisition to permit project implementation in the proposed time frame; and (iii) the risk of the population in the project area not