The Moroccan Minister of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests, Mohammed Sadiki, has revealed that the Chtouka-Ait Baha Seawater Desalination Plant, whose construction is currently 98.5% complete will be commissioned in February this year.
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Sadiki made the revelation on returning from a recent inspection visit to the construction site of the Chtouka-Ait Baha seawater desalination plant that has been under construction since 2018 by Aman El Baraka SA, a subsidiary of Abengoa, a Spanish multinational company that applies innovative technology solutions for sustainability in the infrastructures, energy and water sectors.
Aman El Baraka SA is set to operate and maintain the Chtouka-Ait Baha Seawater Desalination Plant for a period of 20 years after its inauguration.
Expectations for the Chtouka-Ait Baha Seawater Desalination Plant
With a total cost of close to US$ 1.2bn, the Chtouka-Aït Baha desalination plant is the result of the pooling of efforts and resources between the Ministry of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development, and Waters and Forests and the National Office for Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE), the pillar of the energy strategy and the armed wing of the State in the water and sanitation sector in Morocco.
This public-private partnership (PPP) project will help secure the irrigation of 15,000 hectares in the Chtouka plain, through an irrigation network that involves five pumping stations, reservoirs, a main pipeline of 18.4 km, and a distribution network of 480 km.
The network, which according to the Minister of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests is 90.3% complete is expected to become operational by March 2022.
These facilities will eventually allow the production of 400,000 m3/day of desalinated water, shared equitably between drinking water and irrigation water, thus contributing to the preservation of agricultural activity in the region, especially high-value crops.
