Morocco’s Ministry of Equipment and Water has begun consultations with several government departments on a draft law to transform the General Directorate of Meteorology into a national weather agency, a high-ranking source told Hespress AR.
The move follows approval by the Ministry of Economy and Finance of the project’s financial framework, clearing the way for the draft legislation to be submitted to the General Secretariat of the Government for review.
According to the source, the Ministry of Equipment and Water has requested opinions from a number of relevant departments, including the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Digital Transition and Administrative Reform, and the Ministry of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development. The legal consultation process began about a month ago and is still ongoing.
The ministry is awaiting formal feedback from the concerned departments before forwarding the draft law establishing the National Agency of Meteorology to the General Secretariat of the Government. While financial approval represents a key milestone, the source said it remains difficult to set a timeline for the project’s implementation.
In late December, Minister of Equipment and Water Nizar Baraka informed sector union representatives that the Ministry of Economy and Finance had approved the transformation of the meteorology directorate into a national agency.
Under allocations in the 2026 finance law, the General Directorate of Meteorology will continue to expand and modernize its atmospheric monitoring network under the supervision of the Ministry of Equipment and Water.
According to a ministry document accompanying the 2026 budget, planned investments include strengthening the early-warning system for extreme weather through the acquisition of monitoring stations at a cost of 19 million dirhams, as well as equipping airports with meteorological monitoring equipment for 13.7 million dirhams.
The same document indicates that about 4 million dirhams have been allocated in 2026 to improve and develop observational operations, including 3 million dirhams earmarked for system consolidation.
The directorate also plans to integrate artificial intelligence and machine learning into weather data assimilation, analysis and forecasting processes, and to deploy hardware and software for an impact-based forecasting system.
Additional projects include developing a platform to provide access to Morocco’s climate forecasts, establishing a high-resolution wind forecasting system, and creating a national wind atlas.
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