Fask Dam Project to Serve as Vital Socio-Economic Asset in Guelmim

Rabat – The Minister for Industry, Trade, and New Technologies praised the construction of the Fask Dam near Guelmim on Wednesday.

While on a visit to the construction site, Minister Abdelkader Amara stated the dam would be a “very special” asset to Morocco’s infrastructure and more specifically, the region of Guelmim- Oued Noun.

President of the Guelmim-Oued Noun regional council Mbarka Bouaida spoke about the equal importance of the dam’s development alongside the Tiznit-Dakhla expressway that is currently underway in the south, expanding from Tiznit to Dakhla. At over 1,000 kilometers long, the expressway will run near to the Fask Dam.

With a reservoir holding nearly 80 million cubic meters, the Fask Dam will provide protection from flooding and will irrigate between 10 to 20 thousand hectares of farmland in the region.

Construction began in 2018 at nearly MAD 1.5 billion ($166 million) and it will cost upwards of MAD 3 billion ($334 million) upon completion. The regional council claimed to be responsible for providing nearly MAD 680 million ($75 million).

The dam’s project manager Abdelkarim Ait Ehdad celebrated the dam’s current completion rate of 43% and claimed the project would contribute to over 650,000 working days in total for all the employees and organizations involved.

The kingdom eagerly awaits the completion of the Guelmim Fask Dam project as it will be a crucial asset in Morocco’s socio-economic strategic development in the coming years.

Morocco continues to rely on fossil fuels as the primary energy source. In the past decade, the country has shifted to relying more on renewable energy resources with 29% of energy coming from hydropower in 2019. Additionally, Morocco exceeded MAD 52 billion ($5.65 billion) in renewable energy investments since 2011.

New investments in the region such as a solar panel production station in Dakhla promise to end Morocco’s reliance on fossil fuels. The Economic, Social, and Environmental Council (CESE) predict Morocco will be 96% reliant on renewable energy resources by 2050.