Diagnosis and modernisation of water sanitation utilities

Technical expertise for the preparation of investments in Moroccan cities in water and sanitation – Support for several multi-service public utilities created by local authorities to manage public sanitation services and drinking water and electricity distribution

Context of the project

The AFD, in close coordination with the Directorate General of Local Authorities (DGCT) of the Ministry of the Interior of the Kingdom of Morocco, is currently preparing a programme to finance investments in drinking water and wastewater collection and treatment infrastructure that the cities in question wish to implement through their municipal or intermunicipal utilities.

In Morocco, drinking water and sanitation, as local public services, have been under the jurisdiction of the municipalities since 1976, which was reaffirmed and reinforced by the organic law on municipalities promulgated in July 2015. Municipalities have the choice of managing water and sanitation services on their own, or of delegating these to a public operator (Office national de l’électricité et de l’eau potable – ONEE) or a private operator. In Morocco, there are 12 autonomous municipal or inter-municipal utilities. The local authorities sit on and hold the majority of votes in the boards of directors of the utilities. This management method ensures the financial viability of these key local public services without burdening the finances of local authorities.

The UPFI project

Faced with the dynamics of urban growth and the ambitious objectives of the Moroccan authorities in terms of wastewater collection and treatment, several cities wish to make major investments in drinking water and wastewater collection and treatment infrastructures through their autonomous municipal authorities.

Within this framework, three consultancies were carried out by the AFD.

 

Details and objectives of the first consultancy assignment:

The objective of this first consultancy is to:

  • (i) Carry out a strategic and operational diagnosis of RADEEL and draw up an action plan with RADEEL’s general management and in coordination with the DGCT of the Ministry of the Interior to improve the technical, financial and operational performance of RADEEL (mission 1).
  • (ii) Under the supervision of the DGCT and the other public utilities concerned (RADEEL, RADEEJ, RADEEM, RADEET and RADEETA), carry out a diagnosis of needs and an action plan for the modernisation and digitalisation of the operation of the public utilities and their supervision by their supervisory authorities (including operational benchmarking arrangements between public utilities) – (mission 2)

Details and objectives of the second consultancy’s mission

The objective of this second consultancy is to assist three Moroccan public utilities in establishing a prospective financial model.

Details and objectives of the mission of the third consultancy

The objective of this third consultancy is to mobilise technical expertise in liquid sanitation in order to critically analyse the feasibility studies of sanitation projects and to propose possible improvements.