Comercializadora Mediterránea de Viviendas, the former Marina d’Or-Loger, has filed a request for arbitration with the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) against the Kingdom of Morocco for a claim of more than 400 million euros for fail to fulfill its commitments in two real estate complexes.
Marina d’Or explains that in 2004 she participated in the initiative launched by Morocco to decongest overcrowded urban centers through the creation of newly built satellite cities. The company was involved in the construction of two large real estate complexes, one of them “New City of Tamesna” on the outskirts of Rabat, to which the Moroccan State would provide all the necessary equipment and infrastructure to make the new city possible, according to pointed out the law firm B. Cremades & Asociados, which defends the interests of the Spanish company.
The real estate company thought to recover its investment through the sale of the real estate complexes built, but the “inaction of the Moroccan Government for the provision of facilities and infrastructures, together with the modification of the urban planning of the city, have led to that idyllic new city is currently reduced to a few isolated buildings, ”says the note.
Likewise, the company had agreed with the Moroccan public administration to build another real estate complex called The Pearl of Tangier, in the city of the same name, an investment also designed for sale to third parties, financing the construction through the sale of new properties to new residents. But during the execution of this project there was an administrative blockade resulting from internal conflicts between the Moroccan authorities, recognized by the Court of Accounts of that country in a special report of 2014. All this has led to the “irremediable and total loss of the projected investment”, add the lawyers.
The request for arbitration is based on the investment protection guarantees established in the Bilateral Treaty for the Promotion and Protection of Investments signed between Spain and Morocco on December 11, 1997, which includes an international arbitration clause before the ICSID. Thanks to the international investment protection system, Marina d’Or has the possibility of resorting to an international arbitration court to obtain fair compensation for the loss of its investments, which would otherwise be practically unfeasible. The eventual award issued by the arbitral tribunal is mandatory for the Kingdom of Morocco.
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