Luxembourg, 19/12/2006 (Agence Europe) - Under its Facility for Euro-Mediterranean Investment and Partnership (FEMIP), the European Investment Bank (EIB) is participating to the tune of €10 million for energy and the environment in Morocco. Financing contracts for loans concern the following projects:
€170 million are to go to the Office National de l'Electricité (ONE) for the final phase of the national programme for bringing electricity to rural areas, to the benefit of 98% of the rural population. The project will be of benefit to 327,500 households (i.e. around 2 million inhabitants) in 8,375 villages across the country. These households have not had permanent access to the electricity grid in the past. The various components of the project, for which the construction period will be from 2006-2008, will contribute to meeting growing electricity demand in Morocco. The Moroccan electricity network is interconnected to the North African electricity transport network formed by Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. This network is connected to the EU by an electricity connection with Spain, for which the EIB has granted a loan of €80 million.
€40 million will go to the Office National de l'Eau Potable (ONEP) for investment in favour of sanitation systems in 17 urban areas located for the most part in the Oued Sebou basin, between Taza to the east and Khenitra on the Atlantic Coast. Each of the 17 sub-projects includes modernisation and extension of the network for collecting waste water as well as drainage from rainwater, and the construction of a secondary waste water treatment plant. The infrastructure is adequate for a total capacity of some 750,000 inhabitants, with the construction of around 420 km of waste water collection networks and 100 km of drainage networks. The EIB stresses that the impact the project is expected to have on the environment is significant and justifies interest rate subsidies financed from EU budgetary resources. The project also provides for a maximum of €4 million in “FEMIP Technical Assistance” to the project management unit (UGP) and several studies on improving performance and strengthening ONEP water treatment capacity. (ol)