How is the East Region facing the public lighting crisis?

Economy of the East

Cities in the Eastern Province are seeking to optimize their public lighting consumption to reduce energy bills, which are a heavy burden on the budgets of local communities. These bills hinder the implementation of urban programs aimed at beautifying the city and improving the quality of life.

The amount allocated for public lighting is the second budget item after the salaries of municipal employees, which eats up between 30 and 40% of community budgets. Thus, new approaches are necessary to improve the quality of life and valorize public spaces. It is essential to extend the commercial activity that stops in Oujda before 18:00 in winter and 20:00 in summer (with the Maghreb azan). This means that everyone loses if the city is not well lit. The situation is even more serious in peripheral neighborhoods where hundreds of light poles are broken and uncivilized behavior is rampant.

To overcome this issue, the rehabilitation of streets, public spaces, and city entrances is shifting towards new approaches to energy efficiency. Local communities are adopting innovative solutions to rationalize energy consumption, especially in public lighting and administrative buildings. The use of renewable energies, especially solar energy, is evidence of the region's involvement in the national energy strategy. It is an approach encouraged by the energy transition and sustainable development sector. Leila Benali, the minister in charge, also expressed her satisfaction with what is being achieved in the eastern region. She also emphasized her ministry's active commitment to all proposed initiatives and projects in support of environmental transformation and sustainable development.

As detailed during Minister Benali's recent visit to Oujda, the program to implement the sustainable public lighting plan for the East Region benefits from a budget of 400 million dirhams, including a contribution of 30 million dirhams from the Ministry of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development (METSD).

The first tranche was allocated to a Dh99 million project, which is currently being implemented in the city of Oujda. The second agreement, for which a budget of 10 million dirhams has been allocated, was concluded between the Council of the East and the Regional Council of Oujda-Ankad. This agreement will enable other territorial communities in the region to benefit from this program. Oujda has allocated 20 million dirhams to replace energy-intensive lamps with more efficient ones on the main axes and entrances to the city.

However, as important as these efforts are, the region's energy needs are still growing, according to Khatib El Hubail, the governor of the region. He believes that the aspirations of the region's eight provinces go beyond the scope of current interventions. “This requires strengthening investments, expanding the partnership base, and coordinating efforts between the various stakeholders to improve the quality of life in the region,” he said.

Overall, these projects reflect the ambition and integration of the vision adopted by the East Region for a comprehensive environmental transformation based on efficiency, equity and collective commitment, in full harmony with the grand directions of the energy transition and sustainable development at the national level. They also reinforce the region's position as a key player in the implementation of these policies on the ground.