The National Office for Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE) has just launched the contract for the construction of technical and specific studies prerequisites for setting up the Oriental desalination project. The cost of the studies is estimated at nearly 18.9 million DH. They should last 18 months.
This is’technical studies for the desalination plant and the water supply, as well as their complementary studies (topographic, geotechnical and bathymetric).
The capacity of the future desalination plant is estimated at 250 million m3/year, intended to meet drinking and irrigation water needs.
The project includes the sea water intakethe desalination plant, desalinated water tanksTHE brine discharge works and the drinking water supply to the towns concerned.
The study concerns all urban and rural agglomerations and major urban, industrial and tourist projects in the Oriental region, located in the northern zone of the Moulouya hydraulic basin, supplied (or likely to be supplied) from of the hydraulic complex of the Mohammed V and Mechraâ Hammadi dams, on Oued Moulouya.
Recall that the realization of these studies had previously been awarded to a consortium led by the consulting firm Engineering and Development, assisted by the Moroccan Agro Concept and the topography office Med Survey, for an offer of 12.5 million DH. This market had been launched by the Department of Research and Water Planning, under the Ministry of Equipment, before the latter canceled it.
The cancellation decision was justified by the “urgent nature of the project, and the drought situation experienced by the Moulouya basin, requiring the acceleration of the implementation of the Oriental desalination project”.
Other reasons raised by the Directorate General of Hydraulics: “The period of the study, set at 15 monthswhich would risk not ensuring the start of the project within the desired timeframe and the irrelevance of the continuation of the study.”
On July 8, it should be remembered, the commission responsible for monitoring the implementation of the government’s water supply program decided to entrust the management of the desalination project to ONEE, which will be responsible for preparing the charges and begin negotiations with prequalified candidates with a view to a turnkey project.
The station should be built in the vicinity of Nador, in the form of a public-private partnership, with a annual capacity of 100 million m3 expandable to 200 million m3.
