MOROCCO – The Kingdom of Morocco has announced plans to build 4 mega dams in the Fez-Meknes region to enhance access for drinking and for carrying out agricultural activities.

The plans to build the four mega dams were revealed by the Director of the Sebou Water Basin Agency Samira El Haouat who was speaking during a meeting on King Mohammed VI’s 2020-2027 National Drinking Water Supply and Irrigation Program.

El Haouat further revealed that the four dams will cost a total of MAD 6.7 billion (around $694 million) and are expected to be complete by 2027.

The current storage capacity of the Sebou Hydraulic basin is around 5.549 billion cubic meters, the addition of four new dams will bring the total to 8 billion cubic meters, El Haouat stated. 

Apart from the 4 mega dams, a total of 28 small dams are confirmed for construction in the region, including one dam in the province of Ifran and one in the prefecture of Meknes.

The provinces of Sefrou, Taza and Taounate are going to each get 2 dams while the  El Hajeb region will have one dam constructed by the Agency.

The province of Boulemane is going to be the biggest beneficiary of dams in the region, with the agency confirming to have plans of building a total of 19 dams in the area.

The new dams fall under the framework of Morocco’s new water plan, which came into effect on January 14 and has a budget of MAD 115.4 billion (around $11.96 billion).

Just two days after the official launch of the plan, King Mohammed VI inaugurated several hydraulic, hydro-agricultural, and drinking water projects in the province of Essaouira, about 190 kilometers west of Marrakech.

The newly opened projects include the Moulay Abderrahmane dam on Oued (river) Ksoub, a hydro-agricultural development project on the downstream of the new dam, and other projects relating to the construction of a water treatment plant and strengthening access to drinking water in the region.

The Moulay Abderrahmane dam cost MAD 920 million (around $94.6 million) while the hydro-agricultural development project had a budget of MAD 238 million (around $24.2 million).

Other projects aiming to strengthen access to drinking water in the region were allocated a total budget of MAD 227 million (around $23 million).