Morocco: public procurement, national preference and World Cup 2030 projects

Morocco has published a costed and dated pipeline of public projects for 2026-2030, driven by the 2030 World Cup that it is co-hosting with Spain and Portugal: rail, airports, water, energy, hotels and the automotive industry. However, the national preference, strengthened since 1 September 2023, allows part of the contracts to be reserved for companies established in Morocco and puts others at a disadvantage when bids are compared. An exporter must therefore target the right lots, monitor published notices and, in most cases, rely on a local partner.

What are the major investment programmes up to 2030?

The 2026 Finance Law provides for MAD 380 billion of public investment, including MAD 16.4 billion for drinking water supply in areas with a deficit (Hespress, 21 October 2025). Some of the press has presented this envelope as World Cup preparation (AGBI, 22 October 2025); it is in fact the whole of the year's public investment.

Rail. A MAD 96 billion plan was approved in April 2025. The national railway office (ONCF) signed for the purchase of 168 trains from French, Spanish and South Korean suppliers for MAD 29 billion, and the 430 km Kenitra-Marrakech high-speed line is costed at MAD 53 billion (TimesLIVE/Reuters, 25 April 2025).

Airports. The Minister of Transport announced MAD 42 billion of investment by 2030: Casablanca is to increase to 44 million passengers a year, Marrakech to 16 million, Tangier and Agadir to 7 million each and Fez to 5 million, while Rabat-Salé will receive a new 4-million-passenger terminal (Hespress, 23 January 2025).

Pace of awards. According to the Minister of Transport, $4 billion was awarded to 148 infrastructure projects in 2025, and around 151 new projects, worth some MAD 8 billion, are due to be finalised in 2026, mainly in rail (AGBI, 8 April 2026).

Electricity and water. The 2026-2030 plan of the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) amounts to MAD 248 billion, including MAD 206 billion for electricity, with 11.6 GW of renewable capacity and 2.6 GW of storage, and MAD 42.1 billion for drinking water. Desalination is to reach 1.3 billion m³ a year and cover 63% of drinking water demand, compared with 13% in 2025; the first phase of the Casablanca plant, with a capacity of 200 million m³ a year, was 81% complete (Morocco World News, 28 July 2026).

Hotels. Morocco has 10,606 rooms under development in chain hotels, the second-highest figure in Africa; together with Egypt, it accounts for more than 45% of the rooms in the pipeline on the continent (Hospitality Net/W Hospitality Group, 10 March 2026).

Automotive and batteries. The Minister of Industry announced one million cars produced in 2025, compared with 560,000 in 2024, and a local component rate of 70% (AGBI, 10 December 2025). OICA data reported by the Moroccan press, by contrast, show a fall of nearly 10% in production in 2025 (Hespress, 30 January 2026): the two series have not been reconciled. The target of 2 million cars a year of capacity by 2030 dates from December 2022 (Le360, 31 December 2022). Renault Morocco produced 394,474 vehicles in 2025 and exported 82% of them (Morocco World News, 28 January 2026). Stellantis is investing €1.2 billion in Kenitra, including €702 million to develop local suppliers, and is aiming for 75% local integration by 2030 (Morocco World News, 17 July 2025). In Kenitra, Gotion's LFP battery plant, with an initial capacity of 10 GWh a year, was due to start production at the end of summer 2026 (pv magazine, 3 August 2026).

Which national preference rules apply to public procurement?

Decree No. 2-22-431 of 8 March 2023 on public procurement has been in force since 1 September 2023 (DWF, 16 May 2023). It is based on three mechanisms.

The preference now applies to works, supply and service contracts, whereas the 2013 decree limited it to works and related studies, with an uplift capped at 15% (same source). The text refers to competitors "established in Morocco": it is having a presence on the ground, whether a subsidiary or a local company, that opens access to the reserved lots.

How do you find public and private buyers?

Notices from Moroccan public buyers are published on the Moroccan public procurement portal. The multi-year plans of the major public offices, such as ONEE's, make it possible to anticipate tenders several months before they are published.

Some projects are financed by international donors, which apply their own procurement rules. Morocco received $1.77 billion from the World Bank in fiscal year 2025, making it the eighth-largest IBRD borrower (Morocco World News, 10 December 2025), and African Development Bank commitments there reached a record €1.3 billion in 2025 (Morocco World News, 27 May 2026).

On the private side, the most active buyers are carmakers and their tier-1 suppliers, the new battery plants, hotel owners and operators, and the main contractors on major projects. Three levels of evidence help with sorting:

1. a compatible company, whose activity matches the product and whose existence can be checked in the commercial register;
2. a dated public signal, such as a contract award, a plant start-up or a hotel opening date;
3. a confirmed need, that is, a published tender notice with its deadline.

Which local partner should you choose, and under which rules?

Moroccan law does not require an agent in order to sell, but it does regulate commercial agents. Any person or entity, Moroccan or foreign, may be appointed as an agent by written contract, with no specific register; Moroccan law applies mandatorily if the agent is established in Morocco; exclusivity exists only if provided for in the contract; a post-termination non-compete clause is limited to two years and to the same territory, customers and products (Legalmondo, 1 January 2026). A distributor, for its part, buys and resells in its own name.

For public contracts, the choice depends on the lot. Below the reserved thresholds, only an established competitor can bid: a subsidiary, a consortium with a local company or subcontracting to a contract holder. Above them, a direct bid remains possible, but the 15% adjustment argues for a partnership whenever prices are tight. In the automotive industry, local integration targets, 70% announced in 2025 and 75% targeted by Stellantis for 2030, point in the same direction: a European supplier has much to gain from offering partial local production or assembly, or from teaming up with a Moroccan manufacturer.