AfDB, OCP Group provide $188 million for green investment in Morocco

The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the OCP Group concluded three loan agreements in Rabat totalling $188 million to support the OCP Group's Green Investment Programme, which will provide clean drinking water to towns near three new desalination plants.

The new modular seawater desalination facilities will be built with a first loan of $150 million from the African Development Bank and a second credit of $18 million from the Canada-African Development Bank Climate Fund (CACF). 

Owned by the OCP Group, a global leader in soil fertility and plant nutrition solutions, the plants will have a total annual capacity of 110 million m3, and will provide an autonomous source of unconventional water to the OCP Group’s industrial and mining sites. Up to 75 million m3 of drinking water will be provided for the towns of Safi and El Jadida and the areas around the OCP Group’s Safi and Jorf plants, and over 1.5 million people will benefit.

The third loan of $20 million from the Clean Technology Fund (CTF), will be used to fund storage systems for energy generated from renewable sources, supplying the desalination plants and other OCP Group production units.

This funding is an example of the support that the African Development Bank, the CACF, and the CTF intend to contribute to combating climate change, both for adaptation and mitigation. It also aims to support the most vulnerable populations, among others, by supplying drinking water and creating jobs, including for young people and women, and in rural areas.

Key components of the OCP Group Green Investment Program, the projects form part of the Moroccan government’s Emergency Plan for Drinking Water Supply.

Director of the Industrialization and Trade Development Department at the African Development Bank, Mr Ousmane Fall, and Mr Karim Lotfi Senhadj, Finance Director of the OCP Group signed the agreements. Canadian government representatives were also present at the signing, acknowledging the CACF’s contribution and strengthening the shared commitment to combating climate change and women’s empowerment. Moreover, the finalization of this transaction represents the first non-sovereign funding signed by the CACF. It consolidates the long-term partnership between the African Development Bank and the Kingdom of Morocco in its efforts to confront the challenges of climate change.

“We are proud to be associated with this ambitious project, which provides a strategic response to the increase in hydric stress in Morocco. The project will also help to optimize water-resource management in the OCP Group’s industrial activities by using desalinated seawater,” explained the African Development Bank’s Country Office manager for Morocco, Achraf Tarsim.

“We greatly appreciate these loans, which represent a significant contribution to our 2023-2027 investment program of $13 billion. Our sustainability objectives aim to achieve 100 percent unconventional water by 2024, 100 percent renewable energy by 2027, self-sufficiency in green ammonia by 2032, and full carbon neutrality by 2040,” declared Karim Lotfi Senhadji, Finance Director of the OCP Group.

“We are pleased to see that this fund is being deployed effectively in Morocco to contribute to the response to climate challenges. We are delighted to be involved alongside our partners, the African Development Bank and the OCP Group,” commented Jean Touchette, adviser and head of cooperation at the Canadian Embassy in Morocco.

Over 180 operations in various sectors have been deployed by the African Development Bank in Morocco since 1978, totalling over EUR 12 billion.