AfDB Lends OCP Group $188 Mln for Green Projects
The African Development Bank has provided Morocco’s OCP Group three loans totaling 188 Million U.S. dollars for green projects planned by the world’s leading producer of phosphate fertilizers.
The loan agreements were inked Monday in Rabat by Ousmane Fall, director of Industrialization & Trade Development at AfDB and Karim Lotfi Senhadji, OCP Chief Financial Officer in presence of representatives of the Canadian government.
The first loan, worth $150 million from AfDB, and the 2nd loan amounting to $18 million from the Canada Climate Fund – AfDB (CACF), will fund the construction of three modular seawater desalination plants.
These plants from OCP Group, a world leader in sustainable plant and soil nutrition solutions, will have a total annual capacity of 110 million m3. In addition to providing OCP Group’s industrial and mining sites with non-conventional water autonomy, the project will supply up to 75 million m3 of drinking water to the cities of Safi, El Jadida, and the areas neighboring OCP Group’s Safi and Jorf plants.
The third loan, worth $20 million from the Clean Technology Fund, will be used to finance energy storage systems generated from renewable sources. These systems will power desalination plants and other productive units of OCP Group.
“We are proud to be associated with this ambitious project that provides a strategic response to the increasing water stress in Morocco. The project will also optimize the management of water resources in OCP’s industrial activities by using desalinated seawater,” said Achraf Tarsim, Head of AfDB office in Morocco.
“We greatly appreciate these loans, which represent significant contributions to our $13 billion investment program from 2023 to 2027. Our sustainability goals aim to achieve 100% non-conventional water by 2024, 100% renewable energy by 2027, self-sufficiency in green ammonia by 2032, and total carbon neutrality by 2040”, said Karim Lotfi Senhadji, Chief Financial Officer of OCP Group.
“We are pleased to see that this fund is being effectively deployed in Morocco to help address climate challenges. We are delighted to be associated with it alongside our partners: the African development bank and OCP Group”, said Jean Touchette, head of cooperation at the Canadian Embassy in Morocco.
Since 1978, the African development bank has injected 12 billion euros in more than 180 projects carried out in various sectors in Morocco.
