EBRD to fund OCP’s desalination plan with 200 mln euros

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has approved a financing of 200 million euros to support the desalination program of Morocco’s phosphates group, OCP.

The loan will finance the construction of two OCP seawater desalination facilities, at its key industrial complexes in El Jadida (Jorf Lasfar) and Safi, the bank said in a statement.

These new facilities, with a capacity of approximately 35 million m3, will support the production of fertilizers, essential for global food security, enabling OCP Group to meet the increasing demand for sustainable agricultural solutions, it said.

The two projects are conducive to Morocco’s water security strategy as it will help OCP to further reduce its use of freshwater in water-intensive industrial processes.

OCP is also expanding the desalination capacities to supply drinking water to the cities of El Jadida and Safi; and the water previously allocated to OCP will be repurposed to improve drinking water availability for communities in the Oum Er Rbia basin.