During the House of Representatives’ oral question session on Monday, parliamentarians, including those from the majority, criticized Nizar Baraka, and his ministry of infrastructure and water, for the slow pace of opening roadways and removing rocks and debris in the aftermath of the quake.
In response to the criticism, Nizar Baraka said the government-owned vehicles were insufficient across Al Haouz region and neighboring provinces.
Baraka said that the authorities turned to the private sector to provide 100 vehicles for quickly reopening roads.
This effort involved employing 243 drivers and 53 engineers, along with the controlled use of explosives, all aimed at removing rocks with a total weight of 50 tons.
A total of 20 classified roads were blocked by massive rocks, prompting the use of 235 vehicles, including some from outside the Marrakech-Safi region and additional human resources were also called upon.
The minister said that the authorities reached out to specialized companies skilled in using explosives to tackle this challenging task, as removing the rocks proved to be a challenging mission.
“This prompted the specialized teams to work tirelessly day and night to reopen them, achieving a 100% success rate within the third day after the quake,” said the minister.
As to the issue of water, Baraka assured that the dams remained undamaged, except for power outages originating from these dams and the damaged roads leading to them.
The minister further added that providing drinkable water to the affected areas was carried out in the initial phase through an urgent program using trucks and through the preparation of bridges for distribution.
Baraka revealed that the springs, some of them had been absent since the 1980s, including five new ones, had resurfaced, and that the Ministry is actively working on treating this water for supplying the affected areas. He also revealed that the ministry plans to dig more water wells to find new water sources.
The Minister further said that MAD 120 billion have been allocated to address these challenges.