Nizar Baraka, the Minister of Equipment and Water, said delays in the completion of hillside dams in Morocco are due to their high financial cost in comparison to the allocated budget.
Earlier this week, during an oral questions session in parliament, Baraka stated that “17 dams are currently being constructed in various regions of the kingdom, to reach a total of 170 dams in Morocco, with a storage capacity of 26 billion cubic meters.”
“Through technical studies of some hillside dams, the program of small and hillside dams in Morocco has shown that their cost exceeds the allocated budget, leading to delays in their completion,” stressing that: “his ministry is looking for ways to solve this.”
Hillside dams are among the solutions Morocco is turning to in order to address the loss of rainwater flowing into valleys, which could significantly impact local agriculture and the provision of drinking water for the population.
El Mokhtar Bzioui, an international water expert, suggests that one effective solution to accelerate the construction of small and hillside dams is “to persuade the private sector to make investments in dam construction workshops.”
“Time has come for the private sector to enter this field, given the water situation in our country,” Bzioui told Hespress, explaining that “the solution of building dams is as necessary as that of building seawater desalination plants.”
“Dams in all their forms remain necessary for Morocco’s future and are among the solutions that prevent the loss of rainwater and contribute to its storage during drought periods.”
He pointed out that “years of drought have significantly affected water storage in Moroccan dams, for instance, El Mansour Eddahbi Dam is currently empty. Moreover, the delays in the construction of small and hillside dams are also due to these natural factors,” adding that “the reasons do not stand here; they extend to the fact that dam construction efforts have also been delayed.”
The international water expert also mentioned that “the problem of delaying the construction of dams is old in Morocco. Currently, the solutions lie in the hands of the private sector, which has been shown to impact the acceleration of projects, such as the case of the phosphate sector, in which the OCP has successfully achieved major, strategic and important projects not only in Morocco but globally. “
However, Fouad Amraoui, a water expert and professor at the Faculty of Sciences Ain Chock in Casablanca, disagrees with Bzioui’s proposal, saying, “It is unlikely that the private sector will enter dam construction workshops due to the absence of profits in this field.”
Amraoui told Hespress that it is known that the state is responsible for dam construction workshops, and when such projects are offered to the private sector, they will not intervene due to the lack of profit. This is business logic.
He suggested that “technical studies that are currently conducted should be updated so that solutions can be found to enable the State to adapt these projects to the allocated budget.”
Amraoui stated that “the costs of building hillside dams may vary depending on the geographical nature of each region in Morocco; the closer the construction area is to the place from which construction equipment is brought, the lower the cost, and vice versa.”
The speaker clarified that “most hillside and small dams to be built by the government are located in hard-to-reach areas. Which may explain the justifications Minister Baraka said yesterday,” adding that “updating technical studies will enable the identification of more efficient solutions that fit the allocated budget.”
Translated from Hespress AR by Wissal Mellal
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