The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development, Water and Forests said that it launched, last Monday, through the Agricultural Development Agency, a request for proposals for partnership between the state and the private sector on the lands belonging to the private property of the state in the Dakhla-Oued Eddahab region.
The same Source added that this request for proposals will make it possible to assign lands belonging to the state’s private property in the new agricultural environment to young Moroccans living in the Dakhla-Oued Eddahab region, as well as to private investors within the framework of the partnership between the state and the private sector, through a long-term lease ranging from 25 to 40 years, depending on the quality projects.
The ministry indicated that the total area concerned with the request for proposals amounts to 5,200 hectares, distributed among 219 projects as follows: 100 small projects between 5 and 10 hectares directed to the benefit of the youth of the region, 78 medium projects between 10 and 40 hectares, 34 large projects between 40 and 147 hectares, and 7 projects Aggregation with an area of more than 147 hectares.
These lands will be valued through the production of early vegetables, especially those produced inside covered houses, as well as other high-value-added crops and fodder production, within the framework of a complete integration between the low and high production chain, through the establishment of at least 7 collection projects around the valuation units.
Having emphasized that this agricultural production will contribute primarily to strengthening the supply of the national market and contributing to the strengthening of food security in Morocco, the Ministry of Agriculture highlighted that this huge integrated project will enable the creation of an important economic dynamism in the region by pumping private investment to the valorization of this area, which is estimated at 2.5 billion dirhams. It will enable the production of more than 415,000 tons of seedlings annually, create an added value of more than 1 billion dirhams annually, and create more than 10,000 permanent jobs.
In line with the sustainable development goals, the project will enable the conservation of groundwater resources and the use of renewable energies while ensuring the sustainability of production systems. It will also give the necessary guarantee and vision for investors to complete their investments and fulfill their contractual obligations towards the markets.
It will also enable this project to attract young people to invest and create businesses in agricultural activities and related services.
The seawater desalination project is being established in Dakhla through the establishment of a seawater desalination unit and a wind power plant through a partnership between the public and private sectors, where the capacity of the plant reaches 30 million cubic meters per year using reverse osmosis technology. Hydro-agricultural development will also be done through the construction of an irrigation network to supply the irrigated circuit with desalinated water.
The total investment amounts to 2 billion dirhams, of which 1.53 billion dirhams is the contribution of the state and 470 million dirhams represents the contribution of the private partner.
The communiqué stated that on June 22, 2022 in Rabat, the Head of Government presided over the signing ceremony of a memorandum of understanding and partnership agreements between the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development, Water and Forests and the private partner for the construction of a seawater desalination plant and the relevant wind power plant.
He pointed out that the bid book was published on the website of the Agricultural Development Agency (www.ada.gov.ma).
