Just back from Morocco...

[peter]

Hi all,

Just come back from the Morocco trip and got a few bits of general info if anyone's interested.

First off, the location is beautiful. Ultra-friendly people, pristine waters, weather was great, etc.

I was in contact with Nazier in Tetouan and he speaks english fluently and was quite forthcoming with answers to all my questions.

Some general points:

- The current main road runs along the beach. As in the new development is going to be on the other side of this road, away from the beach. Some of you already know this, but it's worth reiterating. This road is ALWAYS going to be busy in the future too, since all the new developments/hotels feed off this road and not a planned main highway.
I don't see this road ever becoming a sub-class road, so it's worth noting if you are expecting the road to become nice and quiet.

- The language situation is quite important. I speak French and passable Spanish, plus some Arabic, and was able to get around fairly ok since the people are very laid-back and helpful.
Virtually noone I met spoke English. Not even the staff I met in the Sofitel hotel in Marina Smir.
Generally speaking, everyone speaks Arabic. Of the euro languages, it's usually a toss-up between French OR Spanish. I didn't meet anyone that spoke both.

So something to consider in future if you are considering moving here, you WILL need to learn Spanish AND French. Arabic would be a bonus too I'm sure


Some moot points:

- Absolutely ZERO development on the lands so far. No site office, even the grass was a lush green. Pretty much every OTHER section of the road has some sort of development going on though. Odd.
I guess if Alkudia Smir falls down there are 100 other developments to purchase from instead!

- The only development that had started about 8 days ago was the digging up of the Corniche that will start at Alkudia Smir and travel left (looking in the direction of the ocean) 2 km.


Any questions, fire away, but I've pretty much summed up everything here.

Cheers,
Peter

[Pinky]

When I was out there I was told by fadesa rep that there WOULD be a slip way from the new highway into the rear of the alkudia smir development, so resort traffic will filter off the main highway. I appreciate that the existing road will still be fairly busy feeding the appartments and hotels but not half as busy as it is now. The main of the traffic going to and from tetouan and Marina smir and Mdiq will use the new road, thus making this road half as busy. Did you manage to get any NEW revised plans for AP1/ AP4 ?? Did they tell you when they are expecting to start the development?? At this rate there is no way they will be finished when first expected in March 2008!!!

[Colin]

As far as the new road goes, I wouldn’t be so convinced that there will be a slip road specifically for Alkudia Smir, I think I’m right in thinking the new road is to be a major road, if it were to have junctions for every development along this area it would be a very difficult road to navigate indeed, however, the road should prove to be a positive thing for the development as it will serve to take a lot of traffic off of the road in front (although, the area is expanding so fast I wouldn’t expect the road to actually get any quieter, just not get far busier) it will also make transport links better for people trying to get there from the airport/ferry etc… so should be a good thing.

I didn’t find the road particularly heavy with traffic, busy yes, but not unbearable, what did you think about the road peter? And did Nazier give you sweeties too?

On another note, how on earth do you get in touch with Fadesa? I’ve been trying to contact them for a few days on and off, every time I phone they are very polite and take down my phone number and tell me that someone will call me back, so and so is on the phone that’s who you need to talk to, so and so is out of the office just now, can I get them to call you back, and so it goes on.

Does anyone have any tips as to how they can actually be contacted?

Colin.

[davmel]

Was there any indication at all of how long it will be before the builders move on to the site?

[peter]

afraid not.. Nazier didn't mention when building would start

I only managed to get him on the phone for a few minutes since I was in Morocco for only a day and he wasn't free to meet at that time, but would have been the following day.

He *did* mention that in about 2 weeks a final decision will be made regarding alotments and availability though (which was what I was really concerned with.. less so regarding when building would start)

Whether or not this turns out to be true is probably unlikely though!

[peter]

Colin, yeah road wasn't THAT busy, but considering the amount of development going on along the route, I'd say it wouldn't be far off the coastal roads in the Costa Del Sol.

I got in contact with Fadesa by (eventually) finding a resort that was actually familiar with the organisation and I got his Tetouan number there.

- another curious thing to mention... none of the nearby development site offices had even heard of an 'Alkudia Smir' site !! I guess that's because it's in the pre-announce phase. Unknown even to fellow site developers!

[romablade1889]

Peter,
Do you think the land opposite Alkudia Smir, on the beach side of the road, could ever be developed?

Looking at the satellite image on Google Earth there appears to be some scrub land between the road and the beach... Further down the beach this has been built on.

It may be that this narrows to greatly for a development at that stretch of the beach, which would explain why Fadesa didn't build some apartments or restaurants on the beach side...

Cheers

Simon

[Pinky]

I thought exactly that but after discussing this with my agent we decided that after the promenade was built either side of the road there would not be enough room for further development on the beach! The Fadesa rep. assured me that this was the case also when I went out there! It is a lovely beach with fine white sand and I think that when the usual beach deck chair people get there with their rakes it will be superb!! You can also walk from there down the beach all the way to Marina Smir, if you are that keen!!!

[peter]

No. Absolutely no chance of development between the road and beach.

The corniche was barely under construction, which begins directly in line with AP1 but across the road on the beach-side (near the roundabout) and it is about 15 metres wide.

From there, there is roughly 50 metres to the shoreline.

I was almost thinking the beach wasn't large enough!

[the kabbie]

forgive my ignorance but what is a corniche?

[peter]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corniche

it's basically what they call a 'promenade' in Arab-speaking countries