- The Zaouait Ait Mellal tunnel, located on Marrakech-Agadir motorway, will be equipped with systems that comply with European quality and safety standards.
- With this first contract in road traffic in Morocco, Indra reinforces its presence in the country and in Maghreb, a strategic area where the company is carrying out important infrastructure modernisation projects.
Indra, the premier IT company in Spain and a leading IT multinational in Europe is currently implementing the management and control systems for Zaouait Ait Mellal tunnel, a stretch of the motorway that will connect Marrakech and Agadir. The contract was awarded by Autoroutes du Maroc (ADM) and it amounts to € 6M. This first contract in the road traffic sector in Morocco contributes to the consolidation of the company's presence in the country and in Maghreb, a strategic area where Indra is carrying out important projects of infrastructures and Government modernisation.
The Zaouait Ait Mellal tunnel will be the first of the Moroccan network to be developed and equipped with state-of-the-art safety and control systems in compliance with safety requirements applied to the tunnels of the Trans-European Network as established by the European Directive 2004/54/CE.
The project foresees the implementation of a thorough system of traffic surveillance, road security and control in both unidirectional two-lane tunnels. The tunnels are equipped with two evacuation corridors and are 550-meter length each.
Indra will supply and integrate the variable-message sign systems in Arabic and French, video monitorisation through closed circuit television, automatic detection of incidents, fire detection, ventilation control, lighting; and communication and power supplies.
Besides this, the company will implement three control and supervision centres which will govern through Indra Horus centralised technical management system the tunnel’s systems in order to guarantee top performance, not only in daily activities but also in the event of emergency.
The systems, which could be used for future connections with other exploitation centres, will provide citizens with information about traffic condition in real time, estimated drive times, special situations such as accidents, traffic cuts or diversion.
The 230 km Marrakech-Agadir motorway will connect the South and North of Morocco and will reduce in two hours the travel time between those two important Moroccan cities making Agadir more accessible thus favouring tourism, industry and commercial activity in the area. The Zaouait Ait Mellal tunnel will also contribute to travel time reduction and at the same time it will minimise environmental impact on the Ait Mellal valley since it possess a significant cultural and ecological potential.
Indra has broad experience in tunnel security and control systems, with projects such as the Sozina tunnel, in Montenegro, da Encumeada in Madeira, the Dublin tunnels in Ireland, Chongging tunnels in China, or Zapata and Lo Prado in Chile.
Expansion in Maghreb
This first contract in the road traffic sector in Morocco adds up to other standing projects awarded this year in the country and in Maghreb, for the modernisation of the government and infrastructures.
Recently Morocco’s National Office of Electricity (ONE) awarded Indra in association with Isolux Corsan, the refurbishing, modernisation and automation of most of the hydroelectricity power plants of the country.
Indra will also implement a port community management system which will improve competitiveness of the Moroccan logistic/port network and its railway management system Da Vinci -the world's most technologically advanced-to manage the whole railway network. Besides this, the National Agency of Land Registry, Cadaster and Cartography of Morocco (ANCFCC) commissioned Indra the development of a system to improve land registration management.
Indra has been working with ONDA, the organ responsible for the security of air navigation in Morocco, in the modernisation of air traffic management systems, communications and training systems for air traffic controllers.
There are other important references in the area, such as: the implementation of air traffic management systems for Algeria, the analysis and review of Tunisia’s health care model, and the implementation of Indra’s technology for Libya's main electricity company, Gecol. Regarding security, the company has been involved in an important multinational cooperation project of Spain, Portugal, Mauritania, Senegal and Cape Verde with the purpose of establishing a satellite-based communications system called Sea Horse Network which acts as a coordinator in the fight against illegal human trafficking and drug dealing.
Indra is the premier Information Technology company in Spain and a leading IT multinational in Europe and Latin America. It is ranked as the second European company in its sector according to stock market capitalisation, and also the second Spanish company with the most investment in R&D. In 2008, revenues reached € 2,380 M, of which a third came from the international market. The company employs more than 29,000 professionals and has clients in more than 100 countries.