According to Reuters, president and CEO of Renault and president of Nissan Carlos Ghosn flew from Paris to visit the construction site in Tangiers, and to meet King Mohammed along with high-ranked government officials in Rabat; he dismissed any suspicion regarding the plant's progress.
In addition, Ghosn said that he had already given the green light on investment for plant apparatus. He stated that the construction will be due by early September but that the sole change would be in the factory's production which, he adds, depends on the Moroccan market's circumstances.
Ghosn said that in the future Nissan would take part in the project but it is for now focusing on a similar project in India.
According to Maghreb Arabe Presse (MAP), the plant is predicted to produce 170,000 vehicles a year; it will be expanded two years later to produce 400,000. The project will generate around 6,000 direct jobs and about 30,000 indirect ones. Furthermore, the factory will produce Renault's low-cost Logan car, as well as two commercial vehicles, Dacia and Nissan, 90% of which are destined for export.
The project will result in bringing the North African country closer to its domestic goals where "the Moroccan government is set to bring the unemployment rate under 7% by 2012, Moroccan prime minister, Abbas El Fassi, said on Wednesday," according to MAP.
Huda Zainy for Morocco Newsline