In the province of El Jadida (commune of Lamharza Essahel), HRH Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan kicked off construction work on Casablanca’s largest seawater desalination plant on Monday June 10. When completed, the plant will have an annual production capacity of 300 million cubic meters.
The desalinated water will benefit a population of 7.5 million. This mega-project comes at a time of significant rainfall deficits and heavy pressure on conventional water resources in the Kingdom’s various regions. It forms an integral part of the “Improving water supply” axis of the 2020-2027 National Drinking Water Supply and Irrigation Program, launched in 2020 by His Majesty the King. The overall cost is expected to reach 143 billion dirhams (USD 14.3 billion). The future plant will meet the growing demand for water in the Greater Casablanca, as well as in the cities of Settat, Berrechid. and Bir Jdid,and the surrounding regions. The plant will be built in two phases on a 50-hectare site. It will require an overall investment of 6.5 billion dirhams (USD 0.65 billion), mobilized through a public-private partnership (PPP). Commissioning of the first phase is scheduled for the end of 2026. By this date, the plant should have a capacity of 548,000 cubic meters of treated water per day (or 200 million cubic meters per year). In a second phase (scheduled for mid-2028), this significant capacity will be extended to 822,000 cubic meters per day. This means a total capacity of an additional 100 million cubic meters per year, including 50 million for agricultural use. In concrete terms, this major new-generation project involves the construction of a reverse osmosis seawater desalination plant and the installation of a transport system for the drinking water produced, comprising three pumping stations, three storage reservoirs and a distribution network of almost 130 kilometers of supply pipes. The drinking water transport system will require an investment of 3 billion dirhams (USD 300 million), financed by public funds.
Drinking water : A production cost of USD 0.448 / cubic meter
The Casablanca seawater desalination plant will comprise two 1,850 ml seawater intake pipelines, a 2,500 ml discharge outfall, reverse osmosis desalination facilities (pressure filters and micro-filters), a sludge treatment unit, a control and management center and pumping stations, as well as a storage tank for the drinking water produced. With a drinking water production cost estimated at 4.48 Dirhams (USD 0.448) / cubic meter, the future plant will be 100% powered by renewable energy and its management will be fully automated.
Objective: Reduce pressure on surface waters
By 2030, the Greater Casablanca desalination plant, the largest of its kind in Morocco and on a continental scale, will supply 300 million cubic meters of water. It will be built by a consortium comprising the Spanish group Acciona, as well as the Moroccan companies Akwa and Green of Africa. The installed water capacity per year will be used for irrigation and drinking water supply in the cities of Casablanca, Settat, Berrechid, Azemmour, and El Jadida. The second phase (2026-2030) will increase the plant’s capacity to 300 million cubic meters per year by 2030. The aim is to reduce pressure on surface water in a context of water stress and chronic drought over the past six years.
Amin RBOUB
