To extend the availability of sustainable water for fertilizer manufacturing, farmers and households in Morocco, IFC at this time introduced a €100 million mortgage (about US$108 million) to OCP Group, the world chief in plant vitamin options and phosphate-based fertilizers.
The mortgage will assist the development of a 219-kilometer water pipeline and pumping station to move desalinated water from OCP Group’s current and deliberate desalination crops in Jorf Lasfar on the Atlantic Ocean to the corporate’s manufacturing operations in Khouribga in central Morocco.
Development is already well-advanced and, when accomplished, the pipeline can have a complete annual capability of 80 million cubic meters, equal to the water in additional than 32,000 Olympic-sized swimming swimming pools.
Morocco is working arduous to sort out extreme water stress, affecting agricultural manufacturing and impacting the nation’s financial improvement. This venture will present OCP Group with a sustainable and dependable supply of water and can unencumber water to be used by farmers, companies, and shoppers in and round Khouribga.
“We’re grateful for IFC’s assist in addressing probably the most urgent challenges of our time – water shortage”, stated Mostafa Terrab, Chairman and CEO of OCP Group. “This venture is a testomony to OCP Group’s dedication to sustainable improvement and innovation. By securing a dependable supply of desalinated water, we’re not solely enabling the continued progress of our operations however on the identical time additionally offering important assets to native communities. This initiative aligns completely with our imaginative and prescient of fostering resilience and meals safety throughout Africa. Along with IFC, we’re paving the best way for a sustainable and affluent future.”
“Water shortage is a serious impediment to financial improvement in Africa – and this progressive venture by OCP Group demonstrates how companies can develop options that sort out complicated improvement challenges,” stated Makhtar Diop, IFC’s Managing Director. “By supporting the development of this pipeline, IFC is enabling OCP Group to not solely deal with its personal water wants however present important water assets to communities and assist the manufacturing of high-value crops, contributing to a extra resilient and food-secure future for Africa.”
The pipeline is a part of OCP Group’s Water Program, delivered by its specialised subsidiary, OCP Inexperienced Water, that’s devoted to supplying 100% non-conventional water to the Group by the tip of 2024. By 2027, by means of investments totaling US $611 million, OCP Group goals to have a manufacturing capability of 560 million m3/12 months of desalinated water and 60 million m3/12 months of handled wastewater. Mixed with new applied sciences to scale back the Group’s water wants, this won’t solely assure provides for its industrial operations but in addition present spare capability for native communities, constructing their resilience to local weather change.
This venture helps Morocco’s precedence for sustainable improvement and is intently aligned with the World Financial institution Group’s technique in Morocco, which features a sturdy deal with local weather. By 2030, the pipeline is predicted to be solely powered by renewable sources, enhancing entry to sustainable water assets and growing resilience to local weather shocks.
The venture additionally helps IFC’s nation technique for Morocco, which focuses on enabling investments that contribute to the scaling of sustainable infrastructure and selling inexperienced and inclusive progress.
Since 2021, IFC and OCP Group have partnered to develop sustainable meals techniques in Africa, construct photo voltaic crops and inexperienced fertilizer manufacturing, promote gender equality, and assist the Group’s sustainability technique.
For greater than 60 years, IFC has labored with private and non-private sector companions to assist small companies, producers, agribusinesses, infrastructure, the monetary sector, and extra in Morocco. Prior to now three fiscal years, IFC has invested and mobilized greater than $1 billion to assist sustainable financial improvement.
