Morocco to invest 383 billion dirhams to secure water supply over next three decades

Morocco will invest 383 billion dirhams to guarantee regular water supply for the next three decades, head of the government Saad Eddine El Othmani said.

Speaking to the inter-ministerial commission on water, El Othmani recalled the royal directives to safeguard water resources and meet rising needs of the economy and the population. The 2020-2050 strategy would serve that goal, he said.

He said the strategy provides for addressing challenges posed by climate change and aims at meeting quality and quantity water needs of the Moroccan population.

Consolidating water infrastructure has been at the forefront of Morocco’s public policy since independence. King Mohammed VI has consolidated this policy by encouraging dam building setting the goal of achieving 15 dams in the 2017-2021 period.

The inter-ministerial commission on water was created in 2017 to find answers to water scarcity. The commission presented to the monarch its first conclusions upon which the monarch ordered the building of different dams in size and locations including three big dams in the northern and northeastern provinces where consumption is set to increase in tandem with the setting up of further industrial and agricultural activity.

One of these big water infrastructures is the Bni Mansour dam which will be the largest of its kind in Morocco with a storage capacity of 1 billion cubic meters.

Besides dams, the King called for building desalination plants and an increased use of water saving programs in farming.