Video Surveillance: These Moroccan Big Brothers Watching Over Our Cities

In the command center of the Casablanca police prefecture, screens flicker and broadcast real-time images captured from all corners of the city. Assisted by an artificial intelligence algorithm, agents meticulously scrutinize each video stream, analyze crowd movements, and decipher vehicle license plates.

Behind these images, an ecosystem of intelligent cameras with unsuspected performance is at work. Faced with rampant urbanization and the approach of major international events (AFCON 2025 and World Cup 2030), Casablanca and other major Moroccan cities have launched several video surveillance projects in recent years.

These systems rely on technologies developed by Moroccan companies often unknown to the general public. Whether securing public spaces or protecting strategic infrastructure, they are contributing to the emergence of smart cities and redefining the Kingdom’s security landscape. They are local Big Brothers.

From an exhaustive list, we selected fourteen projects representing a total budget of nearly 500 million dirhams (482 MDH), involving more than ten companies.

The outcome: deployment of over 7,000 high-tech cameras. Four of these companies account for ten projects totaling 443.8 MDH, representing nearly 92% of the overall investment. A figure that illustrates their dominance in this booming market.

Alomra Group International: The Sentinel in Rabat and Marrakech

Founded in 2004, the company, primarily specialized in video surveillance, security, and the integration of electronic safety and audiovisual systems, is attracting the spotlight on the national video surveillance scene.

This is because the structure led by Driss Benomar, former director of the international cell at the Ministry of Interior and former president of the CGEM’s commission dedicated to economic intelligence, has won three major surveillance contracts on our list of projects, totaling 128.5 MDH.

Its latest success: a 20.8 MDH contract for the upgrade and extension of video surveillance in Marrakech, revealed by a source at SDL Marrakech Mobility. Alomra will modernize the existing system and provide nearly 150 cameras, including two equipped with a license plate recognition (LPR) device.

In June, the company based in the CIL district of Casablanca was already entrusted with the digital surveillance of the Bouregreg Valley in Rabat, for 33.9 MDH. The project involves the installation of 240 intelligent cameras: 173 long-range cylindrical “IP Bullet” cameras, 21 “IP Dome” cameras, 14 “LPR” cameras capable of capturing and digitizing license plate images, and 32 parking space detection cameras.

From Public Spaces to Prison Surveillance

Three months earlier, Alomra beat out major competitors to secure a lucrative 73.8 MDH contract for implementing an AI-based video surveillance system in Rabat, deploying 4,000 cameras over six months.

Alomra’s services consisted of deploying LPR cameras in traffic control and parking zones and PTZ (Pan-Tilt-Zoom) cameras for dynamic city surveillance.

Facial recognition cameras to identify individuals in strategic areas, as well as long-range cameras adapted for monitoring extensive and sensitive zones, were also planned. While performing well in public spaces, Benomar’s company also excels within institutional walls.

In 2021, the General Directorate of Prison Administration and Reintegration (DGAPR) enlisted its services for maintaining the video surveillance and anti-intrusion systems of all prisons in Morocco, for nearly 1.9 MDH.

Cires Tech: The “Sphinx” Watching Over Casablanca and Agadir

In this universe of local Big Brothers, one also finds the footprints of Cires Technologies. Founded in 2007, the technology subsidiary of Tanger Med Group primarily operates in port and airport safety and security, urban video surveillance for public administrations, as well as logistic and industrial activity zones.

Last February, the company extended its expertise to the urban domain. In a consortium with Tanger Med and Tanger Med Utilities, it was selected by Casa Transports to lead the upgrade, extension, and maintenance of Casablanca’s existing video protection system. Price tag: 199.1 MDH.

This project is part of the first phase of the Greater Casablanca development program 2015-2020, delayed due to budget underestimation.

It involves installing, by January 2027, 385 video protection sites, 250 km of network infrastructure, and maintaining 210 existing cameras over an eight-year period.

The HD cameras deployed by the company led by Yahia El Amrani will have advanced features: facial recognition, license plate reading, detection of abandoned objects, crowd and suspicious behavior analysis, as well as protection of sensitive zones and buildings.

After Casablanca, onward to Agadir. In the capital of Souss, Cires Tech and its partner CTHZF will be at the helm of the first phase of the video protection system to enhance urban security.

Budgeted at 42.8 MDH, this contract, scheduled for eighteen months of execution (including maintenance), includes the installation of motorized dome (PTZ) cameras and fixed color cameras connected to a fiber optic network. A main command center managed by the DGSN (operational since mid-November) and a secondary supervision center will oversee the entire video protection network.

AB Protection: From Casablanca to the Alleys of Marrakech

Leaving the Souss-Massa region to focus our lenses on AB Protection. Founded in 2004 and based in Rabat, it specializes in urban video protection, IT security, cybersecurity, automated drones, and integrated security systems.

Under the direction of Abdelfattah Bezzari, the company has won several strategic contracts. The latest: the maintenance contract for Marrakech’s video surveillance system, recently secured for 2.1 MDH.

Before making its way into the ochre city, it had already made its mark in Casablanca, securing, in September 2024, the 16 MDH contract for deploying video surveillance in the old medina of the metropolis. This contract added to the 20 MDH one, obtained in January of the same year in Béni Mellal, for the installation of 291 intelligent cameras.

3G COM: The High-Tech Guardian of Storage Platforms

Beyond the main boulevards and busy thoroughfares, video protection systems extend to highly frequented sites, such as the Bouskoura forest in Casablanca.

At the helm: 3G COM. For an amount of 23.6 MDH, this company based in Hay Riad, Rabat, was commissioned last February by SDL Nouaceur Développement to equip this green space with a complete surveillance system.

This notably includes cameras deployed across 110 sites, interconnected via a computer network mixing fiber optics and radio links.

The project also includes an integrated drone surveillance solution equipped with thermal cameras. A central operations room, remote rooms, and a central technical room are planned, with an intelligent analysis system and 60-day data storage. This platform will be jointly operated by the Royal Gendarmerie of Bouskoura and local authorities, each acting within their respective areas of jurisdiction.

With twenty years of experience, the company led by Mohamed Issam Qandoussi secured, two months later, lot 1 of the tender launched by the Ministry of Interior for securing essential goods storage platforms.

For a budget of 10.8 MDH, 3G COM will handle the acquisition and installation of surveillance equipment in warehouses located in the regions of Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceima, Rabat-Salé-Kénitra, Béni Mellal-Khénifra, and Drâa-Tafilalet. An additional allocation of 980,000 DH is planned for the system’s maintenance.

Three Companies to Secure the Highway Network

The national highway network is not exempt from the massive extension of video surveillance systems, a necessity given the increasing traffic on these strategic routes. A pressure that intensifies with the approach of AFCON 2025 and the 2030 World Cup.

To anticipate these influxes, the National Company for Highways in Morocco (ADM) awarded, in late December 2024, several contracts to three companies tasked with installing hundreds of cameras on different sections of the network.

For 15 MDH, surveillance of the Northeastern highways was entrusted to EM Telecom, a company majority-owned by El Mahdi El Majidi, brother of the King’s private secretary, Mounir El Majidi. The consortium Engelvin Maroc, a subsidiary of the French company Engelvin TP-Réseaux, partnered with the French firm Hymatom, secured the Central-South axis for an amount of 11 MDH.

These Other Video Surveillance Experts

Apart from the most visible players, other Moroccan companies regularly establish themselves in strategic markets related to video protection and smart infrastructure.

This is the case with Matlev, founded in 2007 and specialized in consulting, engineering, and technical assistance in the port, maritime, and industrial sectors. Last August, the company was commissioned by Casa Transport for the modernization of the multiservice network and video surveillance system of the T1 tram line in Casablanca for nearly 2 MDH.

The project involves the complete upgrade of infrastructure deemed “obsolete” and its alignment with the standards of the T3 and T4 lines. Based in Mohammédia, the company will deploy nearly 600 digital cameras along the 31 km line, powered by POE and integrated into the central technical management system.

It will also oversee the redesign of the RMS transmission system and recording servers, capable of storing video feeds for at least seven days.

Another notable player: NewEraCom, a Rabat-based company founded in 2014 and regularly present in public video protection tenders.
Last April, it won lot 2 of the national tender for securing essential goods reserve platforms from the Ministry of Interior, for an amount of 10.2 MDH.

The scope assigned to Abdelouahab Qandoussi’s company covers the regions of Casablanca-Settat, Marrakech-Safi, Souss-Massa, Guelmim-Oued Noun, Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra, and Dakhla-Oued Eddahab.

Video Surveillance Projects in Fès and Tangier

After Casablanca, Rabat, Agadir, and Marrakech, Fès is also preparing to expand its video protection network. Last April, SDL Fès Région Aménagement launched two tenders with a total value of 140 MDH: 42.21 MDH for the civil engineering infrastructure and 98.01 MDH for the supply, installation, and maintenance of technological equipment.

This second lot notably includes the installation of PTZ dome cameras, LAPI systems, facial recognition devices, as well as the implementation of a video management platform (VMS), storage and analysis servers, and supervision workstations.

The company Ingtelma, based in Tangier, was selected last May for the civil engineering works, for an amount of 41.3 MDH. As for the awardee of the technological lot, no information has been obtained to date.

The city of Tangier does not wish to be left out of this dynamic. In May 2024, an allocation of 56 MDH was granted for a project to extend video surveillance in public spaces. An amount divided between 14 MDH from the Tangier municipality, 28 MDH from the General Directorate of Local Authorities (DGCT), and 14 MDH from the Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceima Regional Council.

Led by the Agency for the Promotion and Development of the North (APDN), the project is to span three years. It plans for the installation of 533 cameras, the deployment of 20 km of fiber optic cable, and the creation of dedicated infrastructure covering 111 surveillance points in the city.

The construction of a control room at the headquarters of the Tangier police prefecture is also planned, equipped with the technical devices necessary to ensure optimal operation of the system.