Laws 64.23 and 34.21: regional planning agencies and subdivisions

Published in Official Bulletin no. 7533 on 10 August 2026, Laws 64.23 and 34.21 complete two reforms carried out while Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri headed the Ministry of National Territory Planning, Urban Planning, Housing and City Policy. The first creates 12 regional urban planning and housing agencies; the second modernises the rules on subdivisions. Both were passed unanimously by the House of Representatives, at second reading, on 7 July 2026.

Law 64.23: one planning and housing agency per region

Law 64.23 creates 12 regional urban planning and housing agencies, one in each of the Kingdom’s regions. Each has legal personality and financial autonomy, with offices in the prefectures and provinces, and the new system restructures the existing network of urban agencies. Their missions include:

• planning at regional level;
• supporting investment;
• rural development;
• tackling substandard housing;
• monitoring and expertise.

Their name sums up their purpose: bringing urban planning and housing together in each region. The weight given to rural development builds on the simplifications introduced for the countryside since the joint circular issued by the Interior Ministry and her ministry on 28 April 2023, which notably extended free architectural and technical assistance to rural residents.

The reform traces back to the working session chaired by His Majesty King Mohammed VI on 17 October 2023 at the Royal Palace in Rabat. At that session, where Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri presented the direct housing aid programme, the creation of the 12 regional agencies was decided.

Bringing planning and housing closer to the realities of each territory reflects a conviction she expressed as early as March 2022:

“Indeed, the housing needs of the Drâa-Tafilalet region are not the same as those of Casablanca.”

Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, interview with Médias24, 3 March 2022 (translated from French)

Law 34.21: rules that fit how projects really work

Law 34.21 amends and supplements Law 25.90 on subdivisions, housing groups and land parcelling, the text that governs how land is divided and developed for building. It brings several practical changes:

• permit validity is scaled to the size of the project, up to 15 years for projects of more than 400 hectares;
• deadlines are suspended when work stops for reasons beyond the developer’s control;
• large operations now have a dedicated framework;
• the regularisation of irregular subdivisions now has its own framework.

These provisions aim to align procedures with the real duration of projects, especially the largest ones, while offering a path to regularisation for subdivisions that need one.

A legislative process seen through

Both bills were adopted by the Government Council and then examined by the two chambers of Parliament. On 7 July 2026, the House of Representatives passed them unanimously at second reading, the final parliamentary step after their review by the House of Councillors. They were then published in Official Bulletin no. 7533 on 10 August 2026. The unanimous vote reflects broad agreement on both texts.

The roots of the reform: the National Dialogue

These laws follow on from the National Dialogue on Urbanism and Housing, launched on 16 September 2022, which she presented at the time as a way to implement the New Development Model in housing and urban planning. It brought together more than 4,000 participants across the 12 regions around four themes: planning and governance; housing supply; rural areas and territorial gaps; and the built environment and urban landscape. Its conclusions first informed the reorganisation of the ministry under decree no. 2-23-751 of 21 December 2023. The ministry is now organised around two directorates-general, one for national territory planning and urban planning, the other for housing and city policy.

Planning also moved forward. During the term, 444 urban planning documents were approved, including 62 plans for large cities, bringing coverage to 90%. According to the record presented during the 2026 campaign, 621,642 building projects were reviewed and 348,552 approved, while re-examining stalled files unlocked MAD 98 billion of investment.

Digital tools support these reforms in the same spirit of simplicity and transparency, with several platforms serving citizens, investors and companies:

• daamsakane.ma, for housing aid;
• rokhas.ma, for permits;
• taamir.gov.ma, the urban planning portal;
• chikaya.matnuhpv.ma, for complaints;
• qualif.matnuhpv.gov.ma, for company qualification.