Construction cranes and asphalt crews are a familiar sight in Dakhla these days. A decade after King Mohammed VI launched the development model for Morocco’s southern provinces, the Atlantic coastal city is emerging as its most visible showcase, reshaping daily life for residents and the region’s standing on the world stage.
Speaking to the Maghreb Arab Press agency (MAP) ahead of Eid Al Wahda, Dakhla municipal council president Raghib Hourmate Allah offered an upbeat assessment of the programme. Residents, he said, are feeling its effects directly, as the initiative has driven an unprecedented economic and social push across nearly every sector.
Among the flagship projects he listed: the Tiznit-Dakhla highway, the Dakhla Atlantic Port, whose first phase is nearing completion, the city’s connection to the national power grid, and a major irrigation scheme covering 5,000 hectares fed by a seawater desalination plant. These projects also extend Dakhla’s reach into its African hinterland through the Guerguerat border crossing, part of South-South cooperation and the Royal Atlantic Initiative, which gives Sahel countries sea access via the Dakhla port.
On the municipal side, the council’s work programme targets everyday needs: upgrading drinking-water and sanitation networks, street lighting, stormwater drainage, modernised marketplaces and new commercial spaces. Sport facilities feature prominently too, from neighbourhood pitches and sports complexes to a renovated municipal pool and a reworked seafront corniche along Dakhla bay. Hourmate Allah stressed that residents themselves helped shape the programme, neighbourhood by neighbourhood.
The city is also expanding its network of partnerships and twinning agreements with municipalities across Africa, the United States, Latin America and Europe, reflecting royal guidance on territorial diplomacy. Backed by its highway link, an international airport with direct flights to Paris and Madrid, and its future Atlantic port, Dakhla is banking on tourism, fisheries, agriculture and renewable energy to sustain its growth.
The Eid Al Wahda holiday, first marked after the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 2797 enshrining autonomy as the sole solution to the dispute, has become an occasion for Dakhla residents to voice pride in these achievements and renew their mobilisation behind the King as the kingdom presses ahead with its development agenda.
