King Mohammed VI launches large-scale projects in Agadir: cities of innovation & of trades and skills

King Mohammed VI inaugurated, Thursday in Agadir, the Souss-Massa Innovation City, a concretization of the regional version of the Industrial Acceleration Plan, launched by the Sovereign on January 28, 2018; and chaired, in the Drarga commune , the signing of the financing agreement of Les Cités des Métiers et des Compétences (CMC/Cities of Trades & Skills). The Monarch then launched the construction works of the City of the Souss-Massa region.

The new innovation city, meant to be a real lever for the emergence of a center of Research & Development, aims to raise the region to a pivotal economic center of the Kingdom, capable of creating employment for young people and ensuring inclusive growth.

The regional version of the Industrial Acceleration Plan for the Souss-Massa Region ambitions to create, in the long term, 24,000 new jobs, in 8 activity sectors: three historic growth driver sectors (Shipbuilding, agro-industry and Chemicals) and five emerging sectors, drivers of industrial acceleration (automotive, leather, construction materials, plastics and offshoring).

The industrial approach adopted for the development of Souss-Massa thus seeks to consolidate existing industrial sectors, developing proactively and actively new niches, while respecting environmental standards and the region’s tourism vocation.

The infrastructures being developed in the region have generated an unprecedented industrial investment momentum. To date, 211 industrial projects have been launched, totaling a planned investment of 8.2 billion dirhams (€800 million), and the projected creation of 29,222 direct jobs.

In this connection, 187 projects are either operational, are in the process of being completed, or are planned to be set up in the new developed areas. They will create 19,346 direct jobs.