Morocco's Office Cherifien de Phosphates (OCP) is the parent company of the Phosboucraa Foundation.
Rabat – Certification body Cerway has awarded OCP’s Phosboucraa Foundation the International HighQuality Environmental (HQE).
Phosboucraa gained the certification in Angers, France on Thursday, September 12 as an acknowledgment for its pro-development project, the Foum El Oued Technopole.
The project is a city of “knowledge and innovation” in favor of Morocco’s southern provinces, Phosboucraa Foundation said.
The OCP-backed body launched the planning project on a 600-hectare plot. The construction started in February 2016.
The project, which required a budget envelope of $ 200 million, is expected to accommodate 30,000 inhabitants by 2035.
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The technopolis, 20 kilometers away from Laayoune, includes a training and research center, support facilities for regional economic development, cultural facilities, such as a museum, and a commercial and artisan village. The project also provides social and environmental facilities.
The project translates the Phosboucraa Foundation’s aims“into a contribution to the sustainable development of the southern regions and to the well-being of the local populations,” according to the Phosboucraa Foundation.
A press release from the foundation said that the HQE certification is an “acknowledgment of the high quality of the Forum El Oued Technopole, while also providing recognition for the efforts at integrating the initiative into its physical environment, the rational management of natural resources, and the inclusion of the local population through a participatory approach.”
Through the project, the foundation seeks to contribute to the sustainable development of Morocco’s southern provinces.
“Beyond being an innovative urban project, the Technopole is also a laboratory for research and experimentation, as well as a knowledge transfer platform
that promotes socio-economic dynamism, both regionally and across the African continent,” the statement added
