INDH, PMV, PRDTS, PDTI…, the Acronyms of Progress

The new generation of Integrated Territorial Development Programs (PDTI) is not a break with the various programs launched over the past two decades. Nor is it a repudiation of the public policies carried out in previous years. The PDTI are their continuation and keystone.

We all remember the controversy that accompanied the launch, in 2017, of the Program for Reducing Territorial and Social Disparities in Rural Areas, endowed with a budget of 50 billion dirhams. Over the years, this program has involved more than 1,200 territorial communities and 140 emerging rural centers. The figures testify to this.

No fewer than 17 million inhabitants have benefited from the various components of this large-scale program: opening up isolated areas, access to drinking water, electricity, education, and health. Between 2016 (the year before its launch) and 2023, more than 26,500 km of roads and rural tracks were built or maintained, along with the construction or reconstruction of 223 engineering structures.

More than 32,400 individual, mixed, and public fountain connection operations were carried out, as well as 725 drinking water systems, supplemented by network extensions over 1,096 km. The program also recorded significant results in terms of electrification, with 1,135 douars connected, and the extension of the electrical network over 1,137 km, along with the completion of 351 electrical transformer installation operations.

Similarly, some 987 operations for the construction, reconstruction, extension, and rehabilitation of health facilities were carried out, including premises for personnel, as well as 884 equipment operations for these facilities. To this is added the acquisition of 820 ambulances and mobile units.

On the axis of requalifying basic infrastructure in the education sector, 4,142 operations for the construction, reconstruction, and equipment of school facilities were conducted, including premises for personnel. Furthermore, 1,508 school transport buses were acquired and 139 school equipment operations completed.

Exemplary Governance

It should be emphasized that the government has worked, since its inauguration in 2021, to complete the optimal implementation of this royal program. Investments were prioritized toward territories suffering from major deficits, while ensuring the convergence of sectoral programs according to the specificities of each territory.

This whereas previously, these interventions relied on a logic of fragmentation and compartmentalization, remaining largely trapped in an isolated sectoral vision. To this was added the multiplicity of stakeholders and divergence in solution design. This, moreover, led in many cases to significant delays in achieving results and a limitation of their direct impact on the citizen.

The government, drawing on the experience of the Plan Maroc Vert initiated in 2008, not only managed to address such dysfunctions but also adopted a holistic approach integrating different sectors. The decisive point of this program was governance. The strategic vision was defined at the central level, prioritization and implementation entrusted to the regions, while monitoring and evaluation remained centralized.

In technical jargon, this is referred to as “W” governance. The government also worked on a classification map of municipalities into six categories: from category 1, grouping municipalities farthest from the average on all indicators, to category 6, which concerns municipalities already enjoying a good situation across all sectors.

This allowed, through the PRDTS (Program for Reducing Territorial and Social Disparities), to transition from a “rural development linked solely to the agricultural space” to a “global, inclusive, and equitable rural, mountain, and oasis development, which takes into consideration the aspirations of local populations.”

As the Head of Government emphasized, this program “was not merely a purely technical approach; it constituted an exemplary governance experience that succeeded in clearly contributing to reducing inequalities accumulated over decades.”

The Great Turning Point

This was done, he continues, by accompanying rural and mountainous areas through “operations and programs of territorial requalification whose concrete impact on the ground guaranteed targeted populations the right to dignified living conditions.

Particularly through the improvement of social inclusion indicators, the diversification of social and economic opportunities, and the expansion of possibilities offered to rural women in terms of access to training and employment.” Everything changed a little over two decades ago.

Since then, development is no longer just a number in the Finance Law texts nor a project limited to a single city, “it has become a global vision in which territorial equity constitutes a fundamental pillar,” as the Head of Government emphasized in his address on Tuesday, November 25, before the Chamber of Councillors.

It is thus that in 2005, Morocco underwent a qualitative transformation with the launch of the INDH. This innovative initiative “came to affirm that true development is, first and foremost, the human element before anything else.”

Then, adds Aziz Akhannouch, in 2008, “HM the King launched the Plan Maroc Vert, which did not merely develop export agriculture in irrigated areas, but restored full dignity to small farmers, mountain agriculture, oases, and local crops.”

And the great turning point that truly changed the face of territorial development in Morocco was the year 2015, with the Sovereign’s announcement of the launch of the royal program to reduce territorial and social disparities. “This program was not just an administrative response; it was a response of civilization and humanity.”

The State clearly decided that it is no longer possible for territorial and social disparities to persist. And the philosophy was clear: the road must not stop at the regional boundary… it must reach the douar. For the school, it is not enough for it to be at the municipal headquarters: school transport, public lighting, and conditions favorable to schooling are needed.

As for water, it is not enough for it to be in the network: it must reach the tap in the citizen’s home. And health is not only in a regional hospital: it must be present in the dispensary closest to every citizen. A new governance and unprecedented program engineering were deployed, with the results we know.

Today, states the Head of the Executive, “we are living a pivotal moment in the history of our country’s development, a moment when HM the King has clearly charted the path of an emerging Morocco and called for the adoption of a new generation of development programs.”