Construction Week Online
Rajiv Ravindran Pillai
Morocco will build the world’s largest desalination plant for drinking water and irrigation, following the signing of phase one of the $352.9m project.
The project will be developed by an international company Abengoa in the Agadir region in partnership with the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) and BMCE Bank.
Mohamed Boussaid, Minister of Economy and Finance, and Aziz Akhannouch, Minister of Agriculture, chaired the signing of the conventions in the Souss-Massa region on 29 July, in Rabat, according to Morocco World News.
Akhannouch said that the project “constitutes a lever for sustainable socio-economic growth for the entire region.”
The project involves the construction of a desalination plant with a 275,000m3 total production capacity of desalinated water per day that will be the largest plant designed for drinking water and irrigation. The contract also provides the flexibility for the possible capacity expansion to up to 450,000m3.
The desalination plant, which also provides for the option of being operated on wind power, meets the demand of water for domestic use in addition to irrigation water needs in the area of Agadir.
Abengoa will continue to undertake the engineering, construction and operation and maintenance for a period of 27 years, as per the contract. Abengoa and the Moroccan company InfraMaroc will be investment partners and responsible for the project financing.
Abengoa has been present in Morocco since 1977 and has offices in Rabat and Casablanca.
