In Casablanca, complaints are multiplying over Derb Omar as merchandise, loading activity and cart traffic obstruct sidewalks and roads in the city’s wholesale heart. Pedestrians are being pushed onto the roadway while traffic slows in a district where access to other businesses is also being hindered.
Derb Omar sits in the center of Casablanca and is described as the heart of wholesale commerce there. Sidewalks and roadways are often blocked by merchandise, and loading and unloading is taking place without organization.
Derb Omar in Casablanca
Triporteurs and porters called Taleb Maâchou are moving carts through the area, while some passages near Avenue Lalla Yacout have turned into open-air warehouse space. Other passages delimited by concrete barriers have become extensions of commercial premises, turning public space into storage and circulation space at the same time.
That overlap is what makes the district difficult to cross. Pedestrians are forced to use the roadway at their own risk, and heavy-vehicle loading and unloading during the day blocks roads and causes traffic jams. Other narrow central-city streets are also being asphyxiated, and the area becomes particularly noisy during the day.
Avenue Lalla Yacout and routes
The complaints are not limited to inconvenience. The extension of merchandise onto sidewalks presents serious dangers for pedestrians, while the disorder hinders access to other establishments and businesses in the zone. Several voices are calling on the competent authorities to free public space and enforce existing regulations.
The pressure on the area is sharpened by one unresolved point: the truckers of Derb Omar had not yet been relocated to Mediouna. As long as loading keeps spilling into the day and trucks keep using the same roads, the problem remains concentrated on the sidewalks, the passages and the businesses that depend on them.
