Rabat – Months after launching the first water highway project linking the Oued Sebou River to the Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah dam near Rabat went online, Morocco is planning a second water highway linking the Wad Al-Makhazen Dam to the city of Tangier.
According to a report from the news website Le360, the construction of the water highway will commence in the following week.
The structure is expected to be 60 kilometers long and would transport 600 million cubic meters of water stored in the Wad Al-Makhazen Dam and adjacent dams to Tangier, the report explains.
The project is also expected to pass through the Dar Khrofa Dam and the April 9, 1947 Dam before reaching its final destination, Tangier.
Dar Khrofa Dam has a capacity of 480 million cubic meters, while the April 9, 1947 Dam has a capacity of 300 million cubic meters. However, the two dams saw their reserves dwindle in recent years due to severe drought. The project is one of many Morocco has undertaken in recent years to address the threat of water scarcity, with dams and desalination plants becoming a priority among government projects.
Earlier this year, the Moroccan government launched construction work for 20 dams with a total storage capacity of over 5 billion cubic meters. The government further disclosed plans to inaugurate 1000 small-sized dams by 2030.
Through a 2020-2050 plan, the country is equally allocating MAD 383 billion ($37.6 billion) over a period of 30 years to boost the national water grids for domestic uses and for agriculture. The plan also covers measures to protect the water supply from the climate threat.
Increasing the number of dams is one focus of Morocco’s strategy to maintain water security. The country is also investing intensively in desalination projects, with three stations currently under construction.
The stations would have a total production capacity of over 200,000 cubic meters a day.
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