After a few years of gestation, the bill relating to the creation of regional multi-service companies (SRM) in charge of the distribution of water, electricity, and liquid sanitation has finally come into being. Indeed, the Government Council meeting of Thursday, January 26, 2023 adopted a new version of the text presented by the Interior Ministry. Made up of 17 articles, the bill, which will be transferred to Parliament and enriched by the amendments of the two chambers, aims to respond to several constraints affecting the distribution of water, electricity and liquid sanitation, a sector caught between the need to satisfy the growing needs of citizens and the need to make the significant investments that ensure quality public service to users. As a reminder, “these constraints are linked to the management system of these services and the limitation of the resources available to make the necessary investments, in addition to interference from the fields of intervention of the various entities which supervise the management of these services and the weakness of convergence of the investment programs implemented in this area”, reads the bill’s introductory memorandum, because dealing with the threats of disruption of these services requires the establishment of a separate management framework.. This makes it possible to ensure the effectiveness of public investments, the complementarity of distribution circuits, as well as the coordination and integration between the various stakeholders. It is in this spirit that the Interior Ministry has prepared the bill, in consultation with the ministerial sectors and the public establishments concerned. Thus, the bill is intended to put in place an adequate institutional management framework, with the creation of an SRM in each region, at the initiative of the Government. The SRMs will take the form of public limited companies and will be called regional multi-service companies. The main purpose of these companies is to manage the distribution of drinking water, electricity and liquid sanitation and, where applicable, public lighting, or the management follow-up of this service, and this within the limits of its territorial perimeter, on the basis of a management contract signed with the utility entrusted with the management of the service through a concession contract. Article 2 specifies that the company is authorized to carry out all industrial, commercial, and financial activities and operations related to its main purpose. The company may also be empowered under the management contract to collect royalties and funds on behalf of the utility to whom the service has been delegated or on behalf of the Government or on its own account, as the case may be. The provisions of this article will be applied gradually, in the regions whose list will be set by a decree issued by the Interior Minister.
Mohamed CHAOUI
