This meeting took place, in the presence of ladies and gentlemen: Abdelouafi Laftit, Minister of the Interior, Nadia Fettah, Minister of Economy and Finance, Nizar Baraka, Minister of Equipment and Water, Mohamed Sadiki, Minister of Agriculture, Maritime Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forests, Leila Benali, Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development and Abderrahim El HafidiDirector General of the National Office for Electricity and Drinking Water.
The meeting was devoted to the examination of a series of draft resolutions and recommendations, broken down into 5 areas: the connection between water basins, seawater desalination projects, dam construction projects, outreach programs and governance mechanisms.
In line with the High Royal Guidelines, in particular those contained in the royal speech on the occasion of the opening of the legislative year, Aziz Akhannouch affirmed the government’s desire to accelerate the implementation of the National Procurement Program in Drinking Water and Irrigation 2020-2027, emphasizing the rigor and spirit of responsibility shown by the government in the face of all forms of waste and anarchic exploitation of water resources.
He stressed that the guarantee of water security, in the same way as food security, for the benefit of all citizens, constitutes a challenge that the government is harnessed to take up in order to face the water stress that our country is experiencing due to the successive years of drought and the depletion of surface and groundwater resources.
This program was thus surrounded by particular interest on the part of the government, which ensured that the pace of its implementation was accelerated, in particular with regard to the supply of citizens with drinking water, the projects for interconnecting water basins, as well as projects for dams, seawater desalination and projects for the reuse of treated wastewater.
The meeting was also an opportunity to examine the current state of water resources in our country, the Kingdom experiencing since 2018 the succession of four years of drought, which has led to a decline in surface water reserves and at the groundwater level.
In addition, the individual share of water resources has also declined, from 2560 m3 per year in 1960 to 620 m3 in 2020, due to the reduction in water resources and the population growth experienced by our country.
Within the framework of this national program, the government is endeavoring to take the various measures capable of remedying the delay observed in the deployment of a certain number of projects, in parallel with the launch of studies relating to new projects which will see the light of day. in the short and medium terms.
In this context, the government has taken care to accelerate the pace of investment in this area and to strengthen the credits dedicated to the program, which have increased from 115 to 150 billion DH.
The government will present to His Majesty the King, Mohammed VI, all the projects to be implemented, which are likely to alleviate the impact of water stress on citizens, by ensuring the continuity of their drinking water supply, and making available the water resources necessary for agricultural activities and irrigation.