Lessons for Nigeria as Korea’s €11m supports electric mobility in Morocco

After the Moroccan city of Rabat, which tested the “ecitaro” in 2022 with a view to electrifying its public transport system, Marrakesh is preparing, with the support of South Korea, to put 20 electric buses on the road to decarbonise mobility.

In Morocco, 20 electric buses will soon be running in the city of Marrakech. This is the aim of an agreement signed recently between Yongwoo Jeong, Country Director of the Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and Samir Goudar, President of the Marrakech-Safi Regional Council, which also coordinates the inter-municipal platform Marrakech Transport.

The vehicles will be manufactured and exported from South Korea, where the government is subsidising several car manufacturers with a view to switching to all-electric vehicles.

At a total cost of 11.7 million euros (127.6 billion Moroccan dirhams), KOICA’s support also covers the intelligent management of Marrakech’s transport system.

The aim is to deploy digital solutions in this urban area of over a million inhabitants. Indeed, Marrakech and air pollution have become one and the same, with levels of small particles in the air set at 58 µg/m3, i.e. above the threshold recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO). Against this backdrop of the proliferation of internal combustion engines, Seoul intends to support the transition to low-pollution mobility.

At the same time, new bicycle stations from the start-up Medina Bike will soon be installed in Morocco’s Red City. The project, announced for 2022, is backed by the Moroccan subsidiary of French customer management company Webhelp.

It aims to create 500 jobs, but above all to deploy a self-service bicycle system (VLS) that should reduce traffic jams, the distance to work and the carbon footprint of journeys.

CHISOM FRANK NWOSU