“Late but required measures,” this is how the Civil Coalition for the Mountain, in the person of its president, Mohamed Al-Dish, responded to a question from Hespress regarding Interior Minister Abdel-Wafi’s announcement to give thought to “developing a future program to reduce regional disparities, consecrating the successes of the completed program, and at the same time fighting “Some of the defects and problems that were revealed during its implementation,” he said, adding that “civil society activities must be involved to make it successful, and to ensure that it does not repeat itself.”
Al-Dish was not satisfied with this, but went further when he “extracted” the status of “field effectiveness regarding previous programs,” which he considered “limited,” because “in a large part of them they were far from what is happening in reality, and from the real needs of those who chose the mountain as a residence.” And a refuge, because it was formulated from offices and air-conditioned halls in the centers far from the margins, the valleys, the mountains and the villages concerned with it.”
The same spokesman said: “Thinking about a new treatment for the problem of mountainous regions is required, although we frankly consider it very late, because these fertile spaces contain an interesting socio-cultural and environmental heritage,” stressing that “the high-altitude regions have been subjected to a systematic marginalization policy due to the indifference of officials, which is “This makes there an intense need today to work on all possible fronts.”
The head of the aforementioned coalition explained, in his testimony to Hespress: “What we have always pointed out is that the public authorities were supposed to think in coordination with civilian actors on the ground to come up with effective visions and integrated development visions capable of dealing comprehensively with the dilemmas of the mountainous regions,” pointing out that “The development atrocities were clear and known to those who lived in the highlands or those who were aware of them, but the officials concealed and ignored them,” he said.
Al-Dish continued: “The earthquake of September 8 exposed everything, and made all Moroccans aware of the truth, indeed all the truth that was hidden, kept silent about, and fell into the category of the unthought of,” pointing out that “interventions today bear the character of urgency, while granting positive distinction to these spaces, especially With regard to the water problem, the mountains are one of the most affected areas, due to the absence of a serious vision in the past that contributes to preserving flood waters and torrents.”
The civil activist added, explaining: “If proactive policies had been implemented in the mountainous regions through the establishment of small dams and water basins in the peaks and heights, it would have been possible to avoid this frightening situation that they have reached; It is difficult to talk about the arrival of desalinated water to these remote and high-altitude areas, and we do not yet know the formula that the responsible authorities will adopt in this regard, especially since the mountains are experiencing a real scarcity and high scarcity of water resources.”
Al-Dish called on the Ministry of the Interior to think about “limiting immigration by accelerating the work of reducing regional differences, because the desire to evacuate mountainous areas will increase with the passage of days, and it will be a bad opportunity in which we will lose a rich and precious cultural and social element, given that the mountains are still considered today a reservoir of values.” authentic Moroccan, and also in terms of people’s relationship with the area and the land,” noting that “failing to reduce the differences based on the area will create great pressure on the city and the metropolises due to the high rate of immigration,” and added: “The state has wasted a lot of funds in preparing poor roads that seriously harm all Sometimes it rains, and then the authorities do not think again about maintaining and repairing them, which affects the quality of life in the highlands, thus perpetuating the isolation that the state may feel that it has broken down in these ways.”
Regarding the citizenship and humanitarian aspects, the speaker stressed “activating an innovative political plan characterized by comprehensiveness, convergence, and transversality, so that people can benefit from and enjoy their full rights within the framework of a state of institutions,” concluding that “the public debate that has begun regarding the rehabilitation of mountain regions and the appreciation of the cultural element that thrives within them “It can capture the observations of various actors, whether in official circles or outside them, in order to come up with a plan that is credible on the ground.”
Abdel-Wafi Laftit, Minister of the Interior, explained yesterday, Tuesday, to the Council of Advisors, that “since the launch of the program, which fell within the national strategy for development in the rural area and mountainous areas, in 2017, seven annual regional action plans have been prepared to develop these fragile territorial areas, with a total value of approximately 49 million euros.” 25 billion dirhams; That is, 99 percent of the total budget of the program, which was implemented taking into account all funding sources.