Morocco awards MAD437.6m contract for Benguerir and Marrakech stations

Morocco's national railway ONCF has awarded Jet Contractors a MAD437.6m contract, excluding VAT, to build a high-speed station at Benguerir and four commuter stations between Benguerir and Marrakech. The award covers the southern end of the 430 km Kénitra–Marrakech high-speed line, according to Médias24.

The Moroccan business daily reported on 15 October that the definitive result of the ONCF tender lists five stations. The Green City (Ville Verte) district of Benguerir gets both a high-speed station and a stop for the RER regional express network, while further RER stations are planned at Sidi Bouathmane, Sidi Ghanem and the Grand Stade de Marrakech. Stock market news site Boursenews gave the same list the same day, saying the contractor had reportedly been selected. Neither report gives a construction schedule.

The winning bid of MAD437,575,645.85 is about 13.6% above ONCF's own estimate of MAD385.24m, Médias24 said. The contract is the latest in a series of station packages: in March, Jet Contractors won the turnkey contract for the station serving the Hassan II Grand Stadium near Benslimane, worth more than MAD415m, after seven companies bid, TelQuel reported. ONCF has split the stations, technical centres and maintenance facilities for the line into nine lots.

Same contractor, same corridor

The Benguerir award keeps the southern section in familiar hands. Jet Contractors already holds civil engineering lot 6, the 60 km stretch from Benguerir to Marrakech Palmeraie, worth MAD2.1bn, according to Challenge. Pairing a high-speed station with a regional stop at Benguerir should let passengers from the surrounding area reach the new line by local train rather than by road. ONCF is taking a similar approach around Casablanca, where the MAD20bn package launched in September 2025 includes ten new commuter stations, 260 km of new track and 48 regional and suburban trains, Médias24 noted.

Delivery capacity is the open question. Jet Contractors' order book reached MAD12.8bn at the end of June, up 39% year on year, while its consolidated net profit fell 19% to MAD103.6m, which the company put down to cost overruns on new sites and weather disruption, Boursenews reported. A price above the estimate, one contractor holding both the civil works and the stations, and a fixed deadline all point to tight margins for error. ONCF has framed the programme around commercial service before the 2030 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by Morocco, Spain and Portugal, according to Challenge.

The next step is mobilisation on the five sites. The location of the four RER stops in relation to the existing Casablanca–Marrakech line, and their opening dates, have yet to be published.

Sources: Médias24 (15 October 2026); Boursenews (15 October 2026); TelQuel (26 March 2026); Challenge (19 October 2024).

Photo: Stolbovsky, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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