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Morocco extends Casablanca water PPP deadline

11 July 2023

Morocco’s National Office of Electricity & Drinking Water (Onee) has granted a three-week extension for bidders to submit their proposals for the contract to develop the first phase of a major seawater reverse osmosis (SWRO) desalination plant in Grand Casablanca.

Onee now expects to receive the proposals on 25 July, sources close to the project tell MEED. The previous tender closing date was 4 July.

Onee opted to issue a revised request for proposals (RFP) for the contract following the receipt of initial bids from three consortiums in December 2022.

The bidding teams, in the order of their initial levelised water cost (LCW) offers in December, were:

  • Nareva (local) / Suez (France) / Itochu (Japan) / CIMR (local)
  • Acciona Aqua (Spain) / Goa / Afriquia (local)
  • IDE (Israel) / Somagec (local) / SGTM (local)

It remains unclear which of these three teams plans to submit a final proposal for the contract.

MEED understands Japan’s Mitsui has dropped out of the consortium led by Isarel’s IDE.

Onee received statements of qualifications for the contract from six teams in June last year.

The other teams that sought to qualify were:

  • Acwa Power / Fipar Holding / Sepco 3 / Cobra Group / Lantania
  • Abengoa / Engie
  • Veolia / Taqa Morocco

The proposed Grand Casablanca SWRO project has a design capacity of 548,000 cubic metres a day (cm/d).

The build-operate-transfer contract is for 30 years, including a three-year construction period and 27 years of operation and management.

A consortium of Cid, Novec, LPEE and Mapping Engineering won the contract to study the marine environment and the seawater treatment process for the project last year.

In April last year, Onee appointed US/Indian Synergy Consulting Infrastructure & Financial Advisory as the financial adviser for the project.

Synergy Consulting will assist Onee in undertaking detailed financial and risk analysis, as well as in preparing tender documents and evaluating bids.

Project timeline

MEED understands that Onee expects to complete the commissioning of the plant by 2026.

The project’s second phase, with a capacity of 274,000 cm/d, has a 2030 target completion date. 

Morocco plans to build the world’s largest seawater desalination plant in Casablanca, with a budget estimated at MD9.5bn ($1.05bn), according to a local report in March last year citing Morocco’s Equipment, Transport & Water Minister Abdelkader Amara.

The project aligns with Morocco’s National Water Plan 2020-50 and addresses the country’s scarce water supply.

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Jennifer Aguinaldo

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