World Bank supports the East with $250 million to break isolation and attract investment
Oriental Eco
The Northeast is undergoing a structural economic transformation thanks to the $250 million World Bank-funded Northeast Economic Development Project, which aims to overcome decades of isolation and limited economic opportunities. The region has long been plagued by isolation and limited local economic opportunities, but is now engaged in a large-scale transformation. The project focuses on improving connectivity, enhancing vocational training, and attracting businesses, in a clearly defined course change.
From the provinces of Nador, Derouche, Al Hoceima, all the way to the highlands of Taounate and Taza, economic geography is being redrawn. The Northeast Economic Development Project, approved with $250 million in funding, intends to correct what has always held the region back: Road isolation, mismatch between training and the labor market, fragmented economic initiatives, and difficulty in attracting private investment.
This dynamic is part of the continuity of a national vision that places the reduction of territorial disparities and the activation of new economic poles at the center of Morocco's growth model. The Northeast, long perceived as a peripheral region, could become a pivotal space.
A project that is thought of as a structural structure of the soil
The core of the project is based on the logic of territorial integration. It is not about putting projects side by side, but about organizing the conditions for sustainable growth. The strategy first establishes a coherent investment roadmap, centered around the Nador-Nador West Mediterranean Corridor. This corridor is not just a circulation hub, but is envisioned as a future logistics trunk connecting the deep-water port, emerging activity zones, inland cities, and rural areas that are hardly open to markets.
In this logic, the road becomes a tool for economic transformation. It changes the cost of transportation, the speed of exchanges, access to opportunities, and thus the localization choices of enterprises. The transformation of a region is not only measured in kilometers of roads or millions invested, but in human trajectories.
The OFPPT is modernizing the centers in Nador, Taourirt, Berkane and Sidi Maafa in order to propose courses adapted to emerging sectors: Mechatronics, industrial refrigeration, port logistics, and digital technologies. The region is home to many young people, often invisible in formal value chains. The bet is to turn the high availability of labor into a competitive advantage.
Infrastructure as a lever for economic transformation
The most financially committed component concerns the improvement of 250 kilometers of structural road axes. The doubling of National Road 2 between Nador and El Dreyouche and the rehabilitation of National Road 16 between Nador West Mediterranean and Al Hoceima create a new backbone of mobility. These roads connect the port to urban centers, urban centers to industrial areas, and rural areas to markets. The bet is one of decolonization, but it is also one of competitiveness. An agricultural, artisanal or manufactured product is only valuable if it is mobile.
Beyond infrastructure, the Regional Investment Center of the East coordinates the construction of a thoughtful welcome framework for enterprises: Identification of available real estate, simplification of procedures, identification of export-oriented value chains, accompaniment and economic vigilance. The region seeks not only to attract investment, but also to channel it in a productive and sustainable manner.
This project marks a critical juncture. The Northeast is no longer just compensating for its vulnerability, it is building the conditions for its affirmation. Roads are under construction, training centers are being modernized, and earth engineering works testify to the same ambition: To make the region visible, legible, smooth and attractive. An ambition that will only produce its effects in the long term, but it is already being written in the landscape.
Nador West Mediterranean, the backbone of transformation
Located on the Mediterranean shore, Nador West Mediterranean is asserting itself as one of the pillars of the national strategy to diversify port poles. Designed as an integrated complex, it includes a deep-water port, logistics, industrial and service zones, and inland irrigation connections. It is envisioned as an engine for economic rebalancing, capable of attracting new industries, generating qualified jobs, and establishing value chains at the regional level.
The Northeast Economic Development Project is directly part of this dynamic. The doubling of National Road 2 and the rehabilitation of the port-Hoceima corridor will facilitate the flow of goods, reduce transportation costs, and connect production basins to a wider market. The industries targeted in vocational training programs, especially in logistics, mechatronics and industrial professions, have been identified to respond to the future needs posed by the port.
Nador West Mediterranean thus becomes not only a maritime entry point, but also an economic anchor point. It structures the strategy of territorial diversification, enhances its visibility to investors, and allows to give concrete form to a long-awaited goal: Making the Northeast a space for production, innovation and export.
