AFD and ONEE ink agreements worth €51mln to improve access to drinking water north

A loan agreement worth 50 mln Euros and a grant agreement totaling one million euros were signed, on Wednesday in Rabat, by the French Development Agency (AFD) and the National Office of Electricity and Water (ONEE).

With the new agreement, which completes the one already signed by the two institutions in December 2018, amounting to 50 million euros, the AFD increased its participation in the project's funding to 101 million euros, out of a total cost estimated at 115 million euros, the Agency said in a statement, adding that the grant of 1 million euros by the AFD will be used for studies and capacity building actions. 

The aim is to generalize and secure access to drinking water for the inhabitants of Al Hoceima, Driouch, Nador and Taounate provinces, both in rural and urban areas.

According to AFD, perennial surface resources will be mobilized, namely the Bouhouda and Asfalou dams (Taounate province), in order to face the increased depletion of underground resources and the significant reduction in rainfall over the next decades. 

Quoted by the statement, AFD director in Morocco Mihoub Mezouaghi said that this project contributes to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG-6).