HIBAPRESS – Abdellatif Baraka
The Minister of Equipment and Water, Nizar Baraka, chaired today, Friday, in the city of Agadir, the work of the administrative council of the Souss-Massa Water Basin Agency for the year 2025, in the presence of the Wali of the Souss-Massa region, the Governor of the Prefecture of Agadir Ida Outanane, Said Amzazi, along with a number of officials and institutional actors.
This meeting was devoted to finalizing the agency's accounts for the financial year 2024, studying its work program and its draft budget for the year 2026, as well as following up on the progress of the implementation of the 2025 budget, in a context characterized by a noticeable improvement in the water situation in the region. In his speech on the occasion, the Wali of the region, Said Amzazi, confirmed that the convening of this council comes in a distinguished context, characterized by the recording of significant rainfall during the past days, which contributed to improving the hydrological situation of the Souss-Massa basin, whether at the level of dam revenues or the feeding of groundwater aquifers. He pointed out that this improvement will have positive repercussions on the agricultural and economic dynamics in the region, noting that the total volume of dam storage exceeded 370 million cubic meters, with a filling rate of about 50 percent, while four dams recorded a full filling rate of 100 percent, with an emphasis on continuing to strengthen water storage infrastructure. For his part, the Minister of Equipment and Water, Nizar Baraka, confirmed that this meeting is being held in a positive national context, characterized by significant rainfall in the Souss-Massa region after seven consecutive years of drought, where the amount of rain approached 120 mm in some villages, which heralds the beginning of a promising hydrological year. He added that these rains resulted in water revenues exceeding 370 million cubic meters in the region's dams in a short period. The minister reiterated the government's full commitment to implementing the royal directives of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, especially with regard to the optimal activation of the national program for the supply of drinking water and irrigation water 2020-2027, which aims to ensure the regular supply of drinking water, and to secure at least 80 percent of the water needs allocated to irrigation, in addition to continuing to build dams, accelerating water transfer projects between basins, and developing desalination plants to mobilize more than 1.7 billion cubic meters annually by 2030. The council recorded the progress made in a number of major water projects, including the continuation of the work of raising the Al-Mukhtar Soussi Dam in the Taroudant province, whose total capacity will reach 281 million cubic meters, with an implementation rate of 77 percent, in addition to the completion of the Tamri Dam works in the Agadir Ida Outanane prefecture, with a storage capacity of 204 million cubic meters, with the programming of filling its reservoir during the first half of this year. It also addressed the programming of the expansion of the seawater desalination plant in Chtouka Ait Baha in 2026, to raise its production capacity to 146 million cubic meters annually, and the start of the construction of the Sidi Yakoub Dam in the province of Tiznit, in addition to the purchase and installation of mobile water desalination and demineralization plants in a number of regions of the region. In a related context, the Minister highlighted the emergency measures taken to secure the supply of drinking water, especially in the rural world, by mobilizing groundwater resources, purchasing and renting tanker trucks, and activating tracking mechanisms through regional and provincial water committees. As for adapting to climate change and preventing floods, the council affirmed the importance of preparing a "flood atlas" for the Souss-Massa basin, with the support of the Natural Disaster Prevention Fund, with the aim of identifying areas at risk and prioritizing intervention. The council stressed, at the end of its work, the need to rationalize the use of water resources, protect the public water domain, and combat the illegal exploitation of groundwater, while strengthening the culture of water conservation, to ensure the sustainability of this vital resource. The Board of Directors also approved a number of agreements related to flood protection, including five agreements funded by the Disaster Impact Mitigation Fund, an agreement within the framework of the agency's special program, in addition to an annex to an agreement and an annex to a concession agreement.
