A railway company, owned by the French government, has decided to pull out of the project to build a high-speed rail line from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and will instead be building a railway line in Morocco.

Despite Morocco experiencing what Transparency International called ‘severe and systematic’ levels of government corruption, the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Français (SNCF) made the decision describing the California government as being more ‘politically dysfunctional’ than Morocco.

SNCF had been contracted to build the line in 2010 at an estimated cost of $33 billion. However, because of continued political interference and changes, the SNCF decided to pull out of the project in 2020.

If constructed, it is now estimated that the line will cost California taxpayers upwards of $113 billion.

READ: Foreign Railway Company Decided Not To Build In California Because It’s More ‘Politically Dysfunctional’ Than Morocco