by APA News
The Moroccan Ports Agency (ANP) and the French Development Agency (AFD) on Thursday signed a loan agreement of € 10.8 million (1.1 billion DH), associated with a technical assistance grant of € 813,000 (8.7 million DH). press release, this new financial and technical assistance will consolidate the cooperation relations between the two organizations and will help improve the competitiveness of the ports managed by the National Agency, increase their resilience to the effects of climate change and strengthen their urban integration.
The release pointed out that the partnership between ANP and AFD, launched in 2012 with the allocation of a € 50 million loan and a € 300,000 technical assistance grant by AFD, has today reached a new milestone marked by the implementation of a new € 100 million euro financing package.
“Our 2018-2024 investment program will enable us to consolidate the development and modernization of the port fabric in order to stimulate the socio-economic impact of the port areas on their hinterlands,” ANP Managing Director Nadia Laraki said.
ANP vision through this program “also integrates the dimension of sustainable development by notably making the opening of the ports to their cities a lever for the enhancement of port land, the development of urban spaces and the creation of new activities generating wealth and employment,” she added.
The challenge of this program also bears on the promotion of ports that are more resilient to climate change, the release noted.
In this sense, AFD Director in Morocco Mihoub Mezouaghi stressed that “this new program will aim to increase the resilience of port infrastructure and its adaptation to climate change through the reinforcement of structures and the protection of port infrastructure against sea level rise, the implementation of a carbon balance mechanism to improve energy efficiency and the prevention of marine pollution to preserve the biodiversity of the aquatic environment. ”
