El Guerdane Irrigation Concession
Irrigation modernisation, 45 million m3/year delivered through about 300 km of network to roughly 10,000 ha of citrus and about 1,900 farmers in Morocco.
Operational
The record
- Country
- Morocco
- Location
- Taroudant
- Coordinates
- 30.366, -9.021
- Technology
- Irrigation modernisation
- Capacity
- 45 million m3/year delivered through about 300 km of network to roughly 10,000 ha of citrus and about 1,900 farmers
- Capital cost
- —
- Stage
- Operational
- Owner or client
- Ministère de l'Agriculture; ORMVA du Souss-Massa
- Contractor
- Amensouss, the concession company led by Omnium Nord-Africain with Fond Igrane and Infrastructure Development and Management (Austria)
- Operator
- Amensouss
- Finance
- Thirty-year concession; 36.9 million dollars of private investment mobilised in 2009 dollars, alongside a public subsidy holding the tariff near prevailing pumping costs
- Award or start year
- 2004
- Commissioned
- 2009
Record last checked 2026-09-18.
History
- 1995-01
Souss-Massa basin plan allocated 45 million m3/year to the perimeter
- 2004-07
Thirty-year concession awarded
- 2009-01
Deliveries began and connection reached 100%
Sources
5 references
Every field in the record above is taken from the references below. A field that none of them confirms prints as a dash.
- World Bank and IFC, Public-Private Partnership Impact Stories, Morocco: Guerdane Irrigation (published 2004, updated Aug 2013). documents1.worldbank.org.
- The world's first irrigation public-private partnership, awarded in July 2004 as a thirty-year build, co-finance and manage concession to a consortium led by Omnium Nord-Africain with Fond Igrane and Infra Man of Austria; the Guerdane perimeter in Taroudant province covers about 10,000 ha and grows half of Morocco's citrus; 45 Mm3/year allocated from the Mohamed Mokhtar Soussi and Aoulouz dams about 40 miles away, carried by a 300 km network, met half the perimeter's needs while groundwater was falling 2.5 m a year; bidding was decided on the lowest water tariff, connection reached 100% by 2009, about 1,900 farmers benefit and 36.9 million dollars of private investment was mobilised, per a post-completion evaluation of June 2011. IFC, Morocco Guerdane irrigation PPP brief. ifc.org.
- Same account, adding that the only rival bid came from Ynna Holding and that the scheme supports about 11,000 people.
- CIHEAM Options Mediterraneennes B59. om.ciheam.org.
- MENA Water Review major projects register and PPP pipeline — compiled from procurer publications, development-bank project pages and trade reporting; each record names its source.
Confirms the source works: the Aoulouz dam holds 108 Mm3 and recharges the Souss aquifer, while the Mokhtar Essoussi dam holds 50 Mm3 and supplies 45 Mm3/year to the Sebt El Guerdane perimeter.