Baraka: Confronting random quarries is difficult

After presenting the conclusions of the “black report” prepared by the members of the temporary fact-finding mission on sand and marble quarries to the House of Representatives, the Minister of Equipment, Nizar Baraka, did not find any embarrassment in acknowledging before the representatives the challenges and difficulties facing the Kingdom in “confronting and reducing random quarries.”

Baraka said in an interactive speech with the presentation given by the rapporteur of the temporary exploratory mission on sand and marble quarries, on Tuesday evening, that confronting and limiting random quarries is a “very difficult subject,” stressing that there are problems surrounding this.

The same minister added: “The 900 million dirhams that we are expected to receive annually from quarry activity, we only get 45 million dirhams from,” considering that “this number is weak,” and called for a change in the approach to performance, acknowledging that “monitoring will be of no use.” According to his expression.

The same government official confirmed that “monitoring is not an easy matter, due to the small number of quarry police officers and the lack of positive interaction from those working in the field,” stressing that “these workers in the sector sabotage the mechanisms put in place by the ministry to measure the extracted quantities, and measurement operations are also rejected.”

The Minister of Equipment and Water noted that “Morocco records the opening of 300 quarries annually in various regions and regions,” stressing that “conquering the phenomenon of random quarries will only be achieved through compliance with legal texts and strict application of the law.”

Baraka also considered that “enhancing transparency is a basic condition for achieving reform,” pointing out that “the Ministry is preparing to announce the list of quarries, the type of exploitation, where they are located, and who owns them, on an annual basis.” He added, explaining: “In this way, there will be transparency to track the development of quarries, and who wants to invest.” He will review all the data.”

The same minister praised the capabilities provided by satellites and artificial intelligence technologies to monitor quarries, adding: “We can know the ant in the ground and track new quarries, with the support of the quarry monitoring police and strict enforcement of the law and surprise visits that are not for the sake of courtesy, but for monitoring and deterrence in order to develop the sector.”

Baraka explained that the new approach has begun to bear fruit, noting that “since 2021, the number of random quarries has decreased from 221 to 39 quarries,” stressing “the importance of the awareness-raising efforts being made,” before adding: “We have developed an information system internally in the ministry to track quarries, which has provided us with an important database about them, and today it is necessary for there to be an exchange of information between the various sectors and stakeholders.”