RABAT, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Construction works for Morocco's first military port on the country's Mediterranean coast were launched Monday in the town of Ksar Sghir, Morocco's official MAP news agency reported on Monday.

    The facility will serve as a homeport for the Moroccan Royal Marine ships tasked with protecting the north African country's northern shores, MAP said quoting an army press release.

    It will be operational by July 2010, and will cost some 1.39 billion Moroccan Dirhams (187 million U.S. dollars) to be built.

    The port will constitute the "cornerstone" for the Moroccan marine in patrolling the Gibraltar Strait and the Mediterranean region, thanks to its location between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, according to the report.