King Mohammed VI, accompanied by Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan, inaugurated the construction of the essential goods reserve platform for the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra region on Wednesday, in the commune of Ameur (Salé prefecture). This project embodies the Moroccan vision of resilience and rapid mobilization in the event of disasters. It aligns with the royal directives aimed at equipping each region of the Kingdom with a storage platform for essential goods—tents, blankets, beds, medicines, foodstuffs—to ensure an immediate response to crises such as floods, earthquakes, or industrial accidents. The Rabat-Salé-Kénitra platform will be built on a 20-hectare site, with a completion timeline of 12 months and a budget of 287.5 million dirhams. It will notably include four warehouses of 5,000 m² each, two shelters for oversized equipment of 2,500 m², a helipad, and several parking areas. This project is part of a comprehensive national program, presented to the Sovereign on this occasion, which plans for the creation of twelve similar platforms with a total investment of 7 billion dirhams: 2 billion for infrastructure and 5 billion for the acquisition of equipment and relief products. These platforms will collectively cover an area of 240 hectares and will house 36 warehouses, with their size adjusted to the population density and risk profile of each region. For the six most populous regions—Casablanca-Settat, Rabat-Salé-Kénitra, Marrakech-Safi, Fès-Meknès, Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima, and Souss-Massa—the platforms will include four warehouses totaling 20,000 m² each. The other six regions—the Oriental, Béni Mellal-Khénifra, Drâa-Tafilalet, Guelmim-Oued Noun, Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra, and Dakhla-Oued Ed Dahab—will have two warehouses totaling 10,000 m². The planned stocks are intended to enable a rapid response in case of disaster, meeting the rescue, aid, and victim care needs, in line with the proactive royal vision. The planned equipment covers several areas: emergency housing with 200,000 versatile tents, camp beds, mattresses, and blankets; feeding the victims through mobile kitchens and bakeries, and food kits; supplying drinking water and electricity thanks to purification systems and mobile generators; developing intervention capacities to combat floods, earthquakes, landslides, mudslides, or chemical and radiological risks. The medical component plans for the reserve of six field hospitals with 50 beds in a first phase, and six more in a second, with operating modules and specialized services. Advanced medical posts will be installed on the disaster sites, complementing reserves of medicines adapted to immediate needs. These platforms will strengthen national emergency infrastructures, streamline the delivery of aid, and improve the Kingdom's ability to face crises. They will also allow for the creation of sufficient reserves to meet three times the needs generated by the Al Haouz earthquake. The program will further contribute to structuring a national ecosystem for the production of relief equipment. The sites have been chosen based on security criteria, following a detailed analysis of regional needs and risks, relying on the best practices and international standards.
