DR ‹ › The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved a sovereign loan of up to €150 million (about 1.65 billion MAD) for Morocco to complete the third and final phase of the Saïss Water Conservation Programme, a flagship project aimed at protecting the Saïss aquifer and improving water security in the Fès–Meknès region. The new financing will help build a distribution network to irrigate 20,000 hectares on the Saïss plain, bringing total project costs to €252 million (around 2.8 billion MAD), following earlier phases funded in 2017 and 2020. The loan is supported by a US$7.5 million (about €6.5 million / 70 million MAD) grant from the United Kingdom under the EBRD's High-Impact Partnership for Climate Action (HIPCA), alongside a €5 million (55 million MAD) investment grant and €500,000 (5.5 million MAD) technical assistance contribution from the Bank itself. The agreement was signed in Rabat by EBRD First Vice President Greg Guyett, during his first official visit to Morocco in this role, and Fouzi Lekjaa, Minister Delegate for the Budget, in the presence of Agriculture Minister Ahmed El Bouari. Lekjaa stressed that the partnership with the EBRD is «built on delivering concrete results», adding that the new financing «reaffirms the government's commitment to strengthening the kingdom's water security and ensuring the resilience of Moroccan agriculture in the face of climate change». Guyett noted that completing this final phase «reflects the strength of our partnership with Morocco and our shared goal to advance sustainable, climate-resilient water management», highlighting ongoing EBRD support for modernizing the country's water infrastructure. The Saïss programme will replace unsustainable groundwater pumping with the transfer of 90–120 million m³ of surface water annually from the M'Dez dam. Once fully operational, it is expected to benefit 5,000 farms and 1.8 million people while easing pressure on one of Morocco's most over-exploited aquifers. The project also incorporates measures to boost youth and women's employability in sustainable water management, and includes the introduction of a SCADA remote-management system to optimize irrigation efficiency. The EBRD, a major institutional investor in Morocco, has invested nearly €5.9 billion (about 65 billion MAD) across 125 projects since 2012.
