At the fifth meeting of the National Water Council, Morocco's Minister of Land Management, Water and the Environment, Mohamed Elyazghi, gave details of the national initiative for sustainable development. Among other projects, the government has committed 3 billion dirhams (EUR 270 million) to a three-year cleanup of the heavily polluted Sebou Basin, which supplies water to 22 towns, and 1 million dirhams (EUR 90 million) to build toilets and teach environmental issues in rural schools between now and 2015. By far the biggest investment is in the National Wastewater Treatment Program, which aims to reduce urban pollution levels by 60% before 2010 and 80% before 2015. The school programme includes providing water and sanitation facilities in 12,180 rural schools, as well as environmental education to 17,500 schools.

The World Bank’s Board of Directors approved a new Development Policy Loan (PDL) for the Morocco Water Sector totalling US$100 million (EUR 74 million). This is the first in a programmatic series of DPLs designed to sustain the implementation of a broad program of reforms in Morocco’s water sector. Challenges faced by the sector include large-scale degradation and depletion of water resources, substantial gaps in water supply and sanitation coverage and inefficient water usage. These constraints have contributed to limiting economic and social development opportunities across Morocco.

Source: Amina Salhi, allAfrica.com [in French], 26 Apr 2007 ; World Bank, 1 May 2007

Tags: sanitation, school sanitation