Territorial authorities in several Moroccan regions have imposed strict measures to isolate informal industrial zones and suspend their access to water and electricity after investigations revealed large-scale theft of public utilities, including resources earmarked for drought-stricken rural communities, according to informed Hespress AR sources.
The measures affect areas in the regions of Casablanca-Settat, Marrakesh-Safi and Rabat-Salé-Kénitra, where some of the targeted industrial clusters are allegedly owned or protected by current and former elected officials.
Authorities moved to disconnect these sites after confirming the illegal siphoning of electricity and water, some of which was designated for nearby villages facing chronic shortages.
Sources said provincial authorities are preparing to place draft resolutions on the agendas of municipal councils ahead of their February sessions, paving the way for the formal adoption of stricter policies governing water and electricity consumption. These measures include suspending service to informal industrial zones located on the outskirts of major cities, particularly around Casablanca.
According to the same sources, reports compiled by local authorities and internal affairs departments revealed the involvement of influential individuals in diverting water from tankers and wells intended for rural communities. Investigations also documented electricity theft from transformers registered in the name of territorial municipalities.
The reports further pointed to pressure and extortion allegedly exerted by owners of informal industrial units on municipal leaders to gain access to communal wells. These water sources were reportedly used to supply clandestine factories producing plastic bags, recycling scrap metal and operating cafés, restaurants, leisure venues and public bathhouses.
In several cases, these establishments were secretly connected to sewage networks despite being built on agricultural land, in violation of planning and environmental laws.
One source cited an incident in a municipality near Casablanca where a local council president ordered the disconnection of water supplies to a public bathhouse owned by a former elected official. The bathhouse had allegedly benefited from illegal access to public water infrastructure dating back to the owner’s previous term in office.
Despite no longer holding public office, the former official reportedly continued using free water connections until the irregularities were brought to the attention of the current council president, who instructed municipal services to cut off the supply.
Authorities have also documented the rapid spread of informal industrial zones in the outskirts of major cities, where construction barons and influential figures have transformed rural land into unregulated industrial hubs.
In one case near Casablanca, a former municipal president who had been dismissed over illegal construction was later succeeded by his son, a move sources said helped shield unauthorized industrial zones established on family-owned land, including plots encroaching on state property near a weekly market.
The crackdown follows the mobilization of regional inspection committees tasked with enforcing a circular issued by Interior Minister Abdelouafi Laftit, which placed local authorities on high alert over the deteriorating condition of Morocco’s water basins. The directive urged the activation of oversight mechanisms outlined in Article 89 of Water Law No. 36.15.
In parallel, authorities in suburban provinces have accelerated efforts to regularize or dismantle vast tracts of land converted into informal industrial areas.
These sites have previously been flagged in critical reports by the General Inspectorate of Territorial Administration and the Court of Auditors, which warned in its 2021 report of the proliferation of some 3,300 unstructured industrial units, citing weak coordination and oversight at the local and regional levels.
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