Qudra eyes mega projects in Morocco

Abu Dhabi-based Al-Qudra Holding, which is mulling investment in tourism, real estate, farming, fishing and manufacturing in Morocco, wants Gulf developers and investors to team up to build "giant tourism complexes" there, its chairman said.

"Investment opportunities exist in Morocco, and investors are called on to benefit from these opportunities," Salah al-Shamsi said on Tuesday on the sidelines of a Rabat conference attended by investors mainly from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates.

Al-Qudra also plans to invest in Algeria, Libya, Tunisia and Mauritania as part of its strategy to expand beyond the Gulf and Middle East.

Gulf Arab countries have ploughed record oil revenues into real estate projects and new industries to trim their reliance on the energy sector, but as domestic growth slows, many are looking further afield.

"I call on investors from the region to join forces and cooperate to invest in giant tourism complexes in Morocco to take the most benefit and advantage of the opportunities in Morocco," he said in an interview with Reuters.

"These big complexes would allow us to sustain competition from larger foreign groups and firms," al-Shamsi added.

The French and Spanish are the biggest investors in tourism and other sectors in Morocco, according to official data.

Morocco aims to attract 10 million tourists by 2010 from about 6.5 million currently and is looking for foreign investment to build hotels and other leisure facilities needed to accommodate the rising numbers.

Morocco wants more foreign investment to stimulate economic growth and create jobs in the country of 30 million people, where around 1 million are registered unemployed.

Foreign investment has risen from 6.1 billion Moroccan dirhams ($793.5 million) in 2002 to 28.8 billion last year, according to official figures. The government expects it to reach 31.3 billion dirhams this year. Gulf investors are already involved in real estate, tourism and other projects in Morocco, but al-Shami has a more ambitious vision.

"The idea behind our call for cooperation between investors from the Gulf region is to set up joint ventures to build giant tourism projects in Morocco," al-Shami said.

"We have a permanent office here in Morocco with the goal of focusing on investment opportunities," he said.

"We are carrying out feasibility studies on several projects," he said. (Reuters)

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