Name of municipality: Tangier
Population: 943,817 inhabitants (2014)
Area: 128 km2
Tangier is a city in northern Morocco, the second economic heart of Morocco, and capital of the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceïma region. It is the capital of the Tangier-Assilah prefecture. It is located at the northwestern tip of the country on the Strait of Gibraltar.
President: Mr. Mohammed Bachir Abdellaoui
Contact: Ms. Najoua Aknine, Engineer in charge of the environment: najoua.aknin@gmail.com
Website: www.tanger.ma
Main features:
Tangier is located in the eponymous bay, open to the western end of the Strait of Gibraltar, about 15 km from the Spanish coast and on the outskirts of the Rif mountain range. The city’s port is the main destination for passenger ships coming from Europe. Tangier is one of the most important places of passage for travelers traveling between the European and African continents.
Main economic activities:
As the second Moroccan economic pole after Casablanca, the industrial activity of Tangier is diversified: textiles, chemicals, mechanical, metallurgical and naval industries. The city currently features four industrial zones, two of which hold free trade zone status (the Tangier Free Zone and the Port Free Zone). The infrastructure of the “city of the Strait” is extensive: a port able to manage and process the flow of goods and passengers (more than one million passengers per year), also integrating a marina and a fishing port.
As a major seaside resort, Tangier has various hotel and tourist infrastructures, a vast beach spanning over 7 km, and a medina (ancient city) where a craft trade has been blooming for centuries (leather goods, wooden and silver articles, traditional clothing and shoes, etc.).
The city is also becoming a hub of commercial maritime traffic with the opening of the Tangier Mediterranean port (Tangier Med), which aims to facilitate maritime trade. Since May 2010, most of the traffic is directed towards the new port of Tangier Med located about forty kilometers east of the city. It also features the port of Tangier Ville, dedicated for tourism and located at the foot of the Kasbah.
Conditions and environmental challenges:
With a 41% increase in population between 2004 and 2014, the municipality has welcomed since 2004 a large number of immigrants from all Moroccan cities to work in the largest projects that the city has experienced.
With its Mediterranean climate, the city of Tangier has fairly strong winds with an average speed of 20 to 30 km/hour with sometimes torrential rainfall.
In this way, the municipality is committed to becoming a sustainable, intelligent, livable city with a healthy environment, featuring soft mobility solutions and an attractive infrastructure for all age groups with various recreational and investment areas.