Drinking water and irrigation: The royal boost
It took a meeting on May 9, 2023 chaired by the King to give a boost to the National Program for Drinking Water Supply and Irrigation 2020-2027, which shows that the Sovereign attaches crucial importance to the water issue.
Already, at the opening of the autumn session of Parliament, things were clearly announced. Indeed, HM the King defined a new roadmap intended to speed up the completion of the projects contained in this priority program. The goal is to complete the construction of the planned dams and water interconnection networks, seawater desalination plants, in addition to promoting an approach aimed at saving the use of water, particularly in the field of irrigation and the reuse of wastewater, with a rationalization of the use of groundwater. The royal message also focused on the need to put an end to the approach to water management based on a sectoral policy. On the contrary, water management is a matter that is common to all sectors, which requires the continuous updating of sectoral strategies, in the light of the pressure on water resources and their future evolution. According to the Minister of Equipment and Water, Nizar Baraka, important modifications have been made to all the projects of the initial program. The aim is to accelerate the pace, and support the development of water resources, including non-conventional waters. The most important projects relate to large, medium, and small dams, hydraulic interconnection between river basins, support for drinking water in urban and rural areas, desalination of seawater, and water saving. The additional cost to finance these modifications amounts to 28 billion Dirhams (USD 2.8 billion). This means that the overall budget of the revised program has been increased to 143 billion Dirhams (USD 14.3 billion) instead of 115 billion Dirhams (USD 11.5 billion) originally planned, for a good reason since the new version has several amendments. The new version of the program provides for the programming of two additional large dams and six medium reservoirs with a total additional capacity of 885.2 million cubic meters, which will bring the total capacity of the dams from 19.9 billion currently to 23 billion cubic meters in 2027. Also on the list are 129 small hill dams to supply groundwater, local irrigation, livestock watering, and flood protection. The construction of these dams will be implemented by the regions, noted Minister Baraka.
Mohamed CHAOUI
