Royal Activities
Tuesday 5 June 2018

HM the King Chairs at Rabat Royal Palace Meeting on Water Issue

HM the King Chairs at Rabat Royal Palace Meeting on Water Issue

 
HM King Mohammed VI chaired, on Tuesday at the Rabat Royal Palace, a meeting dedicated to the issue of water, the Royal Office said in a statement.
On October 2, 2017, HM King Mohammed VI chaired a council of ministers in which the Sovereign drew attention to the problem of the scarcity of drinking and irrigation water in rural zones and mountains and gave his instructions to the Head of Government to chair a committee tasked with dealing with this matter in order to find appropriate solutions, the statement said.

Since his accession to the throne, HM the King has consolidated the policy led by late HM Hassan II to provide the Kingdom with water infrastructures that meet the needs of citizens. Thus, in 18 years, thirty dams of different sizes have been built, the source pointed out.

However, due to natural hazards and a rising water demand, the risk of water shortage has increased significantly.

After being informed of the first conclusions of the committee chaired by the Head of Government, HM the King gave his high instructions for the construction, as soon as possible and in different regions of the Kingdom, of dams of different capacities (large, medium and small), as well as hill dams and to consider the possibility of the construction of desalination plants, while ensuring the continuation of the program of water saving in the agricultural field.

Moreover, an awareness campaign will be conducted by the government in partnership with NGOs and other parties involved in the water issue, in order to raise public awareness of the importance of the rationalization of its use.

This meeting took place in the presence of Head of the Government, Saad Eddine El Othmani, HM the King's advisor, Fouad Ali El Himma, Minister of the Interior, Abdelouafi Laftit, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development, Waters and Forests, Aziz Akhannouch, Minister of Energy, Mining and Sustainable Development, Aziz Rabbah, State Secretary for water, Charafat Afailal, and director of the National Office of Electricity and Drinking Water, Abderrahim El Hafidi.

MAP 05 June 2018