18/01/2008
Morocco's housing minister Ahmed Taoufiq Hejira announced that the government has earmarked $70m for the implementation of housing projects in rural areas for the 2007-2012 period. Hejira said his ministry is targeting 140 communes in co-operation with the National Initiative for Human Development (INDH), which was launched in mid-2005 to combat poverty and social exclusion. Following the September 2007 legislative elections, the government announced it would step up the pace of social housing construction to 150,000 units annually. Measures aimed at controlling costs, streamlining procedures and creating new tax-free housing available at cost are expected to help the poor segments of the population.