Moroccan phosphate producer eschews private finance

Office Chérifien des Phosphates (OCP), Morocco’s state-owned phosphate producer, has opted to tender its forthcoming 200,000m3/d SWRO desalination plant on an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) basis, rather than using private finance.

The plant, at Jorf Lasfar on the Atlantic coast of Morocco, will produce water for OCP’s new fertiliser factory, and as such will have to accommodate fluctuating water demand. “We are tied to our industrial activities,” explained Ahmed Segten, director of the water programme at OCP. “We sometimes have to stop production altogether, and this would make it difficult to guarantee offtake agreements,” he told GWI.

The plant had initially been planned on a BOT (build-operate-transfer) basis, but will now be operated by OCP. The client is currently negotiating with two international donors to finance the initial 68,000m3/d phase, which it hopes to bring online by 2012. A request for proposals should be released in April.