Casablanca is launching a smart city project to improve urban cleanliness. The project will see the installation of more than 1,300 smart surveillance cameras in various neighbourhoods across the city, together with a smart city platform. The aim is to make Casablanca a cleaner, more sustainable and connected city, where technology underpins quality of life for inhabitants.

The city has long-standing problems with waste collection and disposal. The city’s main landfill site, the Mediouna, is nearing saturation point. As part of the project, this will be closed and converted into a green space.

To address these challenges, the city has engaged new private firms to collect waste across the city. However, the shift from municipal to private firms in collecting waste has created transparency and monitoring issues.

The project is being managed by the City Council together with a local development partner, Casa Baia, with additional support from the Moroccan government.

Spanish company Minsait has been contracted to develop an urban data platform for managing city information and services, including waste collection.

As well as identifying environmental infringements, the cameras and smart platform will also perform real-time analysis of behaviours relating to those infringements, whether from citizens or collection companies.

Thanks to the smart platform, local and security authorities will be able to intervene quickly in the event of infringements. The system will also provide monitoring of cleaning companies’ performance, measuring their compliance with the specifications.

The city hopes to improve the attractiveness of Casablanca, an economic hub and major tourist and business destination.

The project is part of a national strategy that seeks to reconcile urban development, environmental sustainability and service modernisation.