Morocco’s OCP Secures $200 Million Loan for Dual Desalination Plants to Boost Water Supply

These two seawater desalination plants are intended to cover not only the water needs of the Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP) which wants to expand its fertilizer facilities in Jorf Lasfar and Safi, but also those of the inhabitants of the cities of El Jadida and Safi. The water intended for OCP will also be used to improve the availability of drinking water for the communities in the Oum Er Rbia basin.

"The project is in line with Morocco’s sustainability commitments to reduce pressure on resources, after five consecutive years of severe drought in the country," says a note from the EBRD, which will finance the project to the tune of 2.2 billion dirhams, or about 200 million euros.

This financing is part of the OCP Group’s Green Investment Program, which has been working for several years to preserve water resources and the environment, aiming by 2027 to use exclusively non-conventional waters and clean energies. It will "increase fertilizer production, produce green ammonia and implement the company’s green strategy..." the note states.

Amounting to $12 billion, the OCP Group’s new investment program for the 2023-2027 period aims to strengthen the group’s mining extraction and fertilizer production capacities, which also aims to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040.