Morocco: Five New Large Dams Under Construction

Morocco’s plans for 2021 include the construction of five new large dams with a total storage capacity of 525 million cubic meters, which will allow the country to improve its drinking water and irrigation capacity.

Abdelkader Amara, Minister of Equipment, Transport, Logistics and Water declared in Parliament that the construction of these dams, which will cost Morocco about 538 million USD, comes within the framework of the National Program for Drinking and Irrigation Water Supply 2020-2027.

The minister explained that three dams will be built in Azilal, Agadir and Figuig, while 2 others will be built in Beni Mellal, pointing out the enhancement of the Imfoot dam in Settat.

Once finished, the five new dams will help elevate the country’s storage capacity to 27 billion cubic meters instead of the current 19 billion cubic meters.

Over the past decade, Morocco has built 23 large dams with a storage capacity of 6.2 billion cubic meters, costing the country more than 3.1 billion USD.

Since ascending to the throne, King Mohammed VI has strengthened the policy led by late King Hassan II to provide the country with water infrastructure to meet the citizens’ needs. As of today, Morocco has 149 large and 133 small dams serving drinking and irrigation water.

To face issues arising from water scarcity, Morocco has put forward a plan to ensure adequate water supplies, improve water management and increase supply to rural areas by building dams and desalination plants, as well as exploring groundwater resources.