US $34M to be invested in water, electricity in Morocco

US $34M is set to be invested in water and electricity in Morocco. The Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE) made the announcement and said they will co-finance the project with other public bodies.

According to its specifications, the public company will build new hydraulic facilities near the border post of El Guerguerat, located in the south of the Moroccan-ruled territory of Western Sahara. ONEE wants to build a water reservoir and a seawater desalination plant with a capacity of 423 m3 per day. An elevated reservoir will also be built in El Guerguerat. This facility will be able to store 200 m3 of water.

ONEE estimates that this work will cost US $3M. Expenses that the public company will share with the Agency for the Promotion of Economic and Social Development of the Southern Provinces of Morocco (APDS), US $437,681.36 and US $2M respectively. The project aims to improve the water supply to the border post of El Guerguerat. Access to electricity is also a problem.

READ:Egypt explores water projects with Somalia

Second component

The second component of the “El Guerguerat border post electrification and drinking water supply project” will connect this locality to the electricity network of the Bir Gandouz center in the Dakhla-Oued Ed Dahab region, for an amount of US $8.5M. ONEE will co-finance this work with the Regional Council, the General Directorate of Local Authorities and the APDS.

For all the work, it will be necessary to invest US $34M for access to water and electricity in El Guerguerat and Bir Gandouz. Work will start in October 2022. ONEE will also carry out technical studies for the connection of the centers of Bir Gandouz and El Guerguerat to the national grid of very high voltage.

“We have also launched the work of connecting the fishing village of Lamhriz to the electricity network of Bir Gandouz. This center will benefit from another project related to the development of public lighting. And in the center of Aousserd, it is planned to hybridize the existing diesel power plant by a solar power plant with storage system, “said Abderrahim El Hafidi, the director general of ONEE.