URBAN II

closed

The Second Urban Development Project for Morocco will support the Government's efforts to provide shelter, basic services and employment to low-income urban families, through a program to be implemented in the cities of Meknes and Kenitra. The project will finance: (i) upgrading of squatter settlements; (ii) provision of affordable serviced residential plots; (iii) credit for self-help housing improvement; (iv) construction of community facilities; (v) development of serviced land for business activities; (vi) provision of facilities, equipment and technical assistance to improve municipal services in the project cities; and (vii) studies for the preparation of new urban development projects. About 66,000 persons in the urban poverty group, representing 39 percent and 57 percent of the urban poor in Meknes and Kenitra, will benefit directly from the project. Improved municipal services will benefit about 70 percent of the urban poor in the project cities. The primary risks relate to the need for adequate staffing of the project implementing agencies in order to monitor, supervise and coordinate project implementation, particularly in view of the relatively limited experience in Morocco with beneficiary selection and cost recovery for this kind of project.