Private sector urged to invest in housing

Moroccan minister in charge of housing and urbanism, Toufiq Hjira, urged here on Monday the private sector to invest in housing projects.

Speaking at a meeting on unhealthy housing and the promotion of low-cost lodgings, Hjira said his department is determined to implement, in collaboration with the private sector, a new policy of low cost housing based on dialogue.

The new policy, the minister went on, aims to reduce the deficit in housing, underlining that one quarter of the urban population in Morocco lives in unhealthy housing.

The official, who deplored an incompatibility between supply and demand in the housing sector, said the government has taken up the challenge of building 100.000 housing units per year.

Hjira announced that the State is gradually withdrawing from its traditional role in housing and will play the role of supervisor.