On the occasion of the commemoration of the Moroccan people of the 42nd anniversary of the glorious Green March, the President of the commune of Salé, Mr. Jamaâ Mouâtassim, has the noble honor to express, in his own name and in the name of members of the communal council, of all the officials of the commune and of all the citizens, to His Majesty the King Mohammed VI, may God assist him, his deferential vows of happiness, health and success, by imploring the Most High of renew such an opportunity for your Shereefian Majesty in health and tranquility and fill your Majesty in the persons of HRH Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan, HRH Princess Lalla Khadija, HRH Prince Moulay Rachid and all members of the illustrious Royal family.

HM King Mohammed VI launched, Monday in Salé, the line 2 extension project of the Rabat-Salé tramway that stretches over 7 kilometres for 1.7 billion dirhams.

This project is in line with goals of the 2014-2018 Rabat Development Integrated Program dubbed “Rabat City of Light, Moroccan Culture Capital” and mirrors the steadfast will of HM the King to turn the cities of Rabat and Salé into urban mega-metropolises. It comes following the huge success of the Rabat-Salé tramway since its launch on May 18, 2011, and to meet the growing demand for mobility and transportation and for urban and social upgrading.

The line 2 extension project of the Rabat-Salé tramway will reinforce connection between Rabat and its twin city Salé and with other means of transportation, improve trip conditions in remote neighbourhoods, foster the public transportation network, mainly environment-friendly ones and redevelop state land along the tram route.

The extension, to be operational by July 2019, will provide services for four densely-populated neighbourhoods (nearly 400,000 inhabitants).

In addition to the 2.4km Rabat section, the extension will also include the construction of four tram stops and the urban upgrading of the Yaacoub El Mansour neighbourhood with the creation of three green areas and community parks.

As for the 4.6km Salé section, it will comprise the building of eight tram stations, the construction of 390-meter tram civil engineering works “Bridge on Ain Houala Avenue” (7.5m in height, 11.8m in width), and an underground road.

To back up this extension project, 22 new trams will be purchased.

The project is mainly funded by the Support Fund for Urban Transportation Reforms (Interior and Economy ministries) and via loans by the French development agency and the European Investment Bank.

Other extension projects for lines 1 and 2 of the Rabat-Salé tramway are being studied.

Within six years, the Rabat-Salé tramway had carried around 110,000 peoples daily, a total of 164 million travellers since its launch. It had contributed to creating 400 new stable jobs and slashing CO2 by 10,000 tons yearly.

According to a dispatch MAP

The work of the Forum, organized by the commune of Salé in collaboration with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), continued for three days on the theme of “Open Administration”, where five workshops took place under the framework of specialized OECD experts in the areas of public policy planning and analysis.

Have taken part in these workshops representatives of civil society, coordinators of district committees, local media, academic institutions, presidents of communal divisions and members of the communal council of Salé.

During these workshops, the participants identified, each from a different perspective, the municipal initiatives to achieve the principles of open governance and proposed measures that they deemed necessary to be adopted in order to offer more opportunities for public participation in the decision-making and management of local affairs, and to intensify its efforts to anchor the pillars of the Open Government, in particular with regard to the strengthening of transparency and integrity, broadening of opportunities for participation and accessibility of information.

These workshops were also an opportunity to exchange experiences and learn about the good practices of a number of States which subscribed to the initiative of the Open Government, in particular Spain. Thus, Mr. Lino Ramos Ferreiro, representative of the Spanish Municipality of Alcobendas, presented the different procedures adopted by this municipality, in cooperation with the OECD, to achieve the objectives of the Open Administration.

The Forum ended with the presentation of the results of the preliminary diagnosis on the measures and initiatives of the municipality of Salé in the adoption of the principles of open governance as well as recommendations for the development of its efforts in this field.

The President of the Commune of Salé, Mr. Jamaâ El Moâtassim, chaired, in the afternoon of Tuesday, October 10, in the large meeting room the opening session of the meeting organized by the municipality of Salé with the collaboration of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on the theme “Open Local Government” on 2 days, from 10 to 12 October 2017.

Representatives of the Ministry of Industry, Trade, Investment and Digital Economy; Ministry of Reform of Administration and Civil Service; members of the Bureau of the Council; the presidents of boroughs; the chairmen of the committees of the Council; representatives of the OECD; of the commune Sidi Bouknadel; civil society and community leaders attended the meeting .

As a prelude to this meeting, the communal president made a welcoming speech while highlighting the ongoing efforts of the city of Salé to strengthen the principles of local governance, namely transparency and participation, with the adoption of a series of related practices; noting that this project, the first joint work launched by the Organization with a territorial commune in Morocco after having co-operated on the same subject with the Moroccan government authorities since 2012, aims to identify these practices in the commune of Salé as as pilot experience, and to support them in strengthening open government; through the diagnosis and definition of the legal, policy and institutional framework as well as the identification of good practices. As a result, this diagnosis will make it possible to propose concrete reforms and to work for the dissemination and widespread dissemination of these good practices.

Subsequently, Ms. Charlotte Denise-Adam, Public Policy Analyst, was briefed by the OECD on a brief presentation of the Organization, its objectives and working methods, in addition to the stages of cooperation and partnership with the public authorities since 2012, in particular with regard to open government.

Ms. Sarah Lamrani, Director of Studies, Communication and Cooperation at the Ministry of Reform of Administration and Civil Service, spoke before the audience to recall the ministerial strategy in terms of modernizing the administration, the improvement of the reception of the users and the consecration of the principles of the Open Administration.

Mr. Lino Ramos Ferreiro, Head of Planning and Evaluation at the Spanish Municipality of Alcobendas, gave a presentation on the experience of his own city in his 15-year collaboration with the OECD and its means of remedying certain local problems.

The President of the commune of Salé then explained in detail the most important measures and procedures adopted by the Commune to establish and reinforce the practices promoting transparency and participation, considered to be advantageous, in particular in the fields of communication and participation of civil society in addressing local issues through innovative mechanisms for greater transparency and regular dissemination of information and its provision to the general public.

The speeches were closed by Mr. Brahim Azghar, representative of the Ministry of Industry, Trade, Investment and the Digital Economy, who spoke in turn about the the Digital Administration, noting the fact that its department has undertaken ambitious projects in close collaboration with other government sectors, such as the “integrity portal” project and the “open database” .

Afterwards, the debate opened on the unanimous mention of Salé’s experience in participatory democracy and the need for its development, in addition to the valorisation of the “Open Government” project, which in collaboration with the OECD; as well as the various issues raised have been answered by the President or by the representatives of the Organization.

At the end of the meeting, the President mentioned the program of work for the next two days, thanking all the participants and wishing the Forum’s work to be successful.

Organized by the Bouregreg Association, the Salé International Women’s Film Festival (FIFFS) is back in its 11th edition, from 25 to 30 September 2017.

The opening ceremony took place at the Hollywood Cinema in Sale, with the participation of the Minister of Culture and Communication, the President of the Salé Commune, a constellation of imminent personalities, guests of the Festival as well as a pleiad of artists of both sexes.

The guest of honor of this 11th edition is the Turkish Cinema, through the screening of 5 films. Similarly, the official competition will include the participation of 12 films representing France, Morocco, Colombia, Tunisia, Germany, Australia, Ghana and Egypt.

This edition will be marked by a posthumous tribute to Abdellah Bayhiya, in recognition of a person whose disappearance has affected the film community.
Other tributes will be given to three women for their outstanding film journeys, namely Egyptian actress Rogena, Moroccan actress Fadila Benmoussa and Turkish actress Defne Halman.

This festival is also a space for debate through the organization of forums dealing with several themes, including “Discourse from the body to the cinema: the word to women”, “Production: problems and risks: a comparative approach to Moroccan and Turkish experiences” and “The film and audiovisual industry: from the objectification of women to parity”. This edition also includes workshops on film trades and industry.

 

As part of the Royal Initiative “One Million Schoolbags” and in coordination with the Provincial Directorate of Education in Salé, the president of the borough council Laâyayda, Mr. Azz El Arab Halimi, oversaw the operation of handing over 4,000 school bags and school supplies to pupils from deprived families and enrolled in the second and third primary years in the different schools of the borough.

This solidarity action, which forms an integral part of the strategic vision for the reform of the Moroccan School (2015-2030), was attended by the directors of 16 schools as well as some members of the borough council.