The National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) has launched a major water supply project to strengthen drinking water security in Morocco’s Souss-Massa region.
The initiative, inaugurated by ONEE Director General Tarik Hamane and Souss-Massa Wali Said Amzazi, involves doubling part of the regional water pipeline from the Moulay Abdellah Dam, north of Agadir.
Valued at US $13.2M (MAD 132 million) and financed through a loan from the Islamic Development Bank, the project will install 13 kilometers of steel-coated adduction pipes with a diameter of 1,000 mm.
These pipelines will channel water from the Tamri treatment station, which now has a capacity of 1,100 liters per second, to Agadir’s reservoirs. They will also integrate output from two new monobloc desalination units that are expected to add an additional 200 liters per second to the system.
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Beyond improving water delivery, the project will provide backup supply during maintenance at the Chtouka Ait Baha desalination plant and create greater flexibility in using water resources from both the Abdelmoumen and Moulay Abdellah dams. Completion is scheduled for December this year.
The launch coincided with celebrations of the 72nd anniversary of the Revolution of the King and the People, as well as Youth Day, and reflects King Mohammed VI’s directives to urgently address Morocco’s worsening water stress. In recent speeches, the King has highlighted the decline in water availability from 2,000 cubic meters per capita in 1960 to under 600 today and called for accelerated investment in desalination, dam construction, and inter-basin water transfers.
This initiative also forms part of Morocco’s new integrated territorial development program, which prioritizes sustainable water management alongside job creation, improved social services, and equitable regional development.