Informed sources told Hespress that the regional authorities in the Casablanca-Settat, Rabat-Salé-Kenitra and Marrakech-Safi regions, under the guidance of the central services of the Ministry of the Interior, launched a thorough audit of the records of housing conformity certificates (“housing licenses”), after receiving information about the issuance of forged delivery and conformity certificates, recorded with old dates and serial numbers, in anticipation of the activation of a ministerial circular issued in the middle of last August stipulating the suspension of granting partial licenses and linking the delivery of documents to the completion of works according to the approved designs.
The same sources confirmed that administrative investigation committees dispatched by the prefectures have begun to investigate irregularities in the issuance of “housing conformity certificates,” after attempts were detected to evade the digital platform designated for studying license applications, by exploiting gaps left in old records through collusion between heads of groups and employees in their urban planning departments.
The same sources revealed that the regional committees affiliated with the territorial administration have observed the expansion of the trading in unfinished apartments, whether in the resettlement neighborhoods where the displaced benefited from plots of land, or by some small subdividers, stressing that the pace of granting “housing permits” is accelerating with the beginning of the countdown to the end of the electoral term, which has led a number of presidents to be suspected of circumventing the law and violating the provisions of the circular addressed by the Ministry of the Interior to the governors of the regions, the governors of the provinces and the heads of the communities.
The ministerial circular aimed to curb the continued practice of granting partial licenses that are exploited to open parts of a building before its completion, which has led to the emergence of unfinished buildings in urban and semi-urban areas, and has contributed to unauthorized changes to the original designs.
The circular was based on Decree No. 2.13.424 of 2013, which serves as a general building regulation, requiring the completion of all construction work and adherence to the approved design before permits are granted and compliance is finalized. It also drew upon the provisions of Law No. 66.12 concerning the monitoring and penalization of construction violations, which strengthens the role of local authorities in overseeing construction projects' compliance with regulations and allows for penalties ranging from work stoppages and the issuance of violation reports to fines and, where necessary, demolition.
According to the newspaper's sources, the regional committees questioned the heads of councils about the justifications for ignoring the directives of the governors and workers not to issue certificates of conformity and “occupancy permits” for parts of buildings that are not completed according to the licensed designs, with the cladding or painting of facades according to the collective decisions of each territorial community, and urging architects not to issue certificates of completion of works except after the actual completion of the construction works in accordance with the designs licensed by the authorities.
According to Hespress sources, administrative research committees warned the heads of groups of the dangers of leaving construction sites open, which prevents the completion of construction operations from being monitored by the supervising engineers. They stressed that in many cases this gap was exploited to make changes that do not conform to the licensed designs, which are “not subject to change.” This directly affected the monitoring operations entrusted to local authorities and urban planning inspectors, and this became clearly evident during the recent demolition of buildings that violated urban planning regulations and laws.
The Ministry of Interior has stressed on more than one occasion that the digital platform “Rukhas” represents the official approved channel for submitting and tracking building permit files, including occupancy permits or certificates of conformity. It is required that these files include all technical documents, from the declaration of completion of works, certificates of architects and study offices, building plans and licensed designs, the technical card, and other necessary documents.
