Casa-Settat Regional Multiservices Company: Details of the management contract

Only a few days to go before the very first Regional Multiservices Company (SRM Casablanca-Settat) goes live on October 1. Its Board of Directors was due to hold its 1st meeting on September 18, to prepare for this launch by approving the management contract for the distribution of drinking water, electricity, and liquid wastewater, and its appendices (specifications, staff regulations, financial projections, and other items.).

The scope of the new management contract, valid for 30 years, covers the entire Casablanca-Settat region, including the current scope of the delegated management contract with the Lydec utility. SRM thus inherits a vast territory, as well as the staff of ONEE (National Electricity and Drinking Water Board), the El Jadida and Sidi Bennour utilities, the Chaouia utility, and the relevant contracting company. Thousands of jobs will be created – 4,665 civil servants to be precise, 65% of whom will be employed by Lydec. Under the terms of the new management contract, SRM undertakes to guarantee to these staff «a situation which shall in no case be less favorable than that which the persons concerned had on the date of their transfer, in particular as regards salaries, allowances and bonuses relating to their status, social works, medical cover, and the social welfare scheme», as stipulated in the contract. Local representatives will be set up in each prefecture or province within its scope of action, reads the contract.

During the first 3 years from the date of entry into force of the management contract, SRM will draw up master plans for drinking water, electricity and liquid sanitation. These are to be updated periodically. Moreover, the provisional investment program must be updated in the light of these master plans, to take account of changing needs and public service management goals.

By October 31 of each year at the latest, SRM must present a 5-year forward-looking multi-year plan, based on its contractual commitments.

Service charges remain unchanged. «SRM is required to continue applying the tariff structure, which comprises several tariffs according to usage and consumption. No changes may be made to this structure except on the initiative of the competent authorities», says the contract.

Aziza EL AFFAS