Further to the call for "Interest Manifestation"(Manifestation d'interêt) relating to the pre-selection of developers for the planning and development of the tourist areas of "Smir" and "Laguna Smir", a meeting centred on the opening of the candidates envelopes was held on May,2,2006 at the head office of Tourism Department.

12 tenderers answered such a call. The candidates chosen, at this pre-selection stage, were assessed according to their leadership, their financial stability, their experiences in the tourist sector (tourist projects, entertainment and leisure projects, planning and property projects) as well as their marketing capacity.

The 6 developers (aménageurs) chosen at this pre-selection stage are as follows (classified in alphabetical order) :

• Banyan Tree (Singapore) : Developer and Operator of Hotel trade and leisure specialized in the development of hotels management, Resorts and Spas. It is very active on the asian market; and it has large scale projects and luxury hotels, namely "Banyan Tree Maldives" and "Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru".
• Calidona (Spain) : Property and hotel developer as well as leisure operator (Golf, Tennis, Spas) specialized in the development of Resorts, including "Corvera Golf" and "Country Club" in Spain.
• Fadesa (Spain) : Developer working in the sectors of property, tourism and leisure. Developer of Saidia's tourist station and of Tangier's City Center.
• Group Med (Spain). Hotel and property developer as well as leisure operator specialized in the promotion and the management of Resorts. It has developed big Resorts projects, including the most famous " La Manga Club " in Spain.
• Marrakech's Palm Grove (Morocco) : Operator in different fields (tourism, leisure, property, local authority housing, industry and service sector) and developer of tourist projects in Morocco such as "Golf Palace Palm-Grove and "the gardens of Palm-grove" in Marrakech.
• Sedesa (Spain) : Very active in different fields, including construction industry, promotion, planning and development.

Besides being specialized in leisure, it is the owner of two parks in Spain ("Terra Mitica" and "Terra Natura"). It has also developed the Oceanographic Park in Valencia.

The developers pre-selected will be invited, in the final stage of selection, to present, within 4 months, a planning and development project of "Smir" and "Laguna, Smir" areas. This project should incude an equipment and entertainment/ leisure development program as well as a program of tourist and residential accommodation.

This call for "Interest Manifestation" is part of the implementation of an action plan for the tourist development of the M'diq-Fnideq coast, presented to His Majesty on September 8, 2005, and which requires mainly the development of a substantial hotel capacity on the coast as well as the creation of structuring entertainment and leisure infrastructures in order to accompany the creation of new beds and the urban and landscaped improvement of the M'diq-Fnideq coast.

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