Project record

Casablanca-Settat desalination marine works and common systems

ACCIONA project rendering of the Casablanca-Settat reverse-osmosis desalination plant at Sidi Rahal

ACCIONA

The Casablanca-Settat PPP is building 300 million m3/year of seawater reverse-osmosis capacity at Sidi Rahal in two phases, with the initial stage carrying the marine, tunnelling, and electrical systems shared by the full plant.

Project signal

Construction in Morocco

Treat the shared intake, outfall, tunnelling, electrical and control systems as the schedule test for both phases. Physical completion and acceptance of those common systems, followed by first-phase integrated commissioning, will determine whether the marine package is ready. Treatment-plant progress or financing alone cannot close that interface.

Current status Construction active; common marine, tunnelling, and electrical systems remain on the path to the February 2027 first-phase target Source confidence Confirmed

Location

Morocco / Africa

Segment

Marine utilities

Status

Construction active; common marine, tunnelling, and electrical systems remain on the path to the February 2027 first-phase target / Confirmed

Evidence reviewed

15 July 2026

Controlled taxonomy

Related sectors

The detailed segment above is the primary work classification. These broader sector links connect the project to related delivery and market research.

Knowledge context

Related knowledge topics

Continue through the topic collections to compare this record with related projects, evidence guides, briefs, articles, reports, and performance records.

Project anatomy

Scope, counterparties, and execution logic

Client / authority
Office National de l'Electricite et de l'Eau Potable (ONEE)
Delivery parties
Al Baidaa Desalination Company, ACCIONA, Green of Africa, AfriquiaGaz
Contract route
Public-private partnership with Al Baidaa Desalination Company; ACCIONA holds 50%, Green of Africa 45%, and AfriquiaGaz 5%, with ACCIONA responsible for construction and 27 years of operations and maintenance
Execution window
Construction started in June 2024. Current ACCIONA project-team reporting targets first-phase completion in February 2027 and second-phase completion in August 2028, after which commissioning and operating acceptance remain separate gates.
Works package
A two-phase 300 million m3/year seawater reverse-osmosis PPP comprising a 200 million m3/year first stage, a 100 million m3/year expansion, shared marine intake and discharge works, tunnelling, electrical systems, treatment and pumping facilities, potable-water storage and transfer, renewable-power supply, and a long-term operations and maintenance concession.
Marine interfaces
The first stage must deliver marine and tunnelling systems sized and configured for the full two-phase plant. Intake and outfall construction, shaft and tunnel interfaces, coastal geology and groundwater, seawater quality, wave and current conditions, electrical availability, process commissioning, and transfer-system readiness therefore sit on one acceptance path.
Commercial read
The prime PPP, financing and main construction role are committed. Specialist demand remains in tunnelling and marine works, survey and geotechnical control, dewatering and temporary works, intake-outfall mechanical integration, environmental monitoring, testing, commissioning, integrity management, spares and long-term O&M support. No new project-level EPC award is evidenced.
Next milestone
Verify physical completion and acceptance of the common marine and tunnelling systems, energisation and integrated testing of the first 200 million m3/year stage, then owner confirmation of first water and commercial operation.

Material change register

What changed, when, and what it proves

Only source-bound events that alter phase, scope, counterparties, delivery, completion, commissioning, or acceptance are listed. A change can advance the record without proving the next gate.

Annual reporting kept Casablanca among ACCIONA's faster-delivering water projects

ACCIONA's 2025 integrated report attributes part of Water's improved performance to faster-than-expected delivery of key projects including Casablanca. This is a current execution signal, not a measured marine-progress percentage, tunnel breakthrough, common-system acceptance, first water, or operating release.

Read controlling source

Q1 construction activity identified Casablanca as a Water delivery driver

ACCIONA's Q1 statement says Water revenue growth and backlog execution were driven in part by construction at Casablanca. It confirms active contractor delivery through 31 March 2026 but does not identify completed marine structures, tunnel advance, wet testing, or owner acceptance.

Read controlling source

ONEE's year-end profile kept the 300 million m3/year plant under construction

The owner describes Casablanca as in progress at the end of 2025 and retains the 300 million m3/year, clean-energy programme frame. This confirms owner-side construction status but provides no marine-package quantity, completion measure, acceptance certificate, or first-water evidence.

Read controlling source

The Al Baidaa consortium signed project financing

ACCIONA identified the 50/45/5 consortium split, 80/20 debt-equity structure, MAD 6.5 billion investment, renewable-power supply and 27-year construction and O&M role. Financing removes a commercial gate; it does not prove marine mobilisation, physical progress or accepted output.

Read controlling source

ONEE launched physical implementation at Sidi Rahal

The owner marked the start of project realization and set the two-phase capacity and programme. Construction launch moves the project into execution while leaving marine method, tunnel progress, permanent intake and discharge installation, integrated testing and operation as later evidence gates.

Read controlling source

ONEE concluded the long-term public-private partnership

ONEE records the PPP conclusion in November 2023 for design, finance, construction and more than 27 years of operation. The agreement establishes responsibility and delivery structure, not notice to proceed, construction start or marine-system definition and acceptance.

Read controlling source

Delivery watch

Evidence needed next

Verify physical completion and acceptance of the common marine and tunnelling systems, energisation and integrated testing of the first 200 million m3/year stage, then owner confirmation of first water and commercial operation.

Decision watchpoints

  • Completion and acceptance of the shared marine intake and discharge works
  • Tunnel, shaft, coastal-groundwater, and mechanical-interface progress
  • First-phase electrical energisation and integrated commissioning
  • Owner confirmation of first water and 200 million m3/year operating acceptance
  • Expansion readiness for the additional 100 million m3/year stage

Related records 2

Project availability status

This public project page is a tracked market record rather than a tender notice, contractual commitment, or commercial instruction. Use the status, confidence label, evidence-review date, and source note together when judging how much weight to place on the signal.

Read featured analysis Review methodology Submit stronger evidence or a correction Open project tracker

Record control

Evidence reviewed date is not a project-event date.

IMWO changes phase, participants, scope, completion, or acceptance wording only when a dated source establishes the change. The review date records when the evidence set was checked; it does not claim that physical work changed on that date.

Evidence reviewed 15 July 2026 Sources in this record 9

Source record

ONEE records a November 2023 public-private partnership, the 10 June 2024 start of construction, and a first phase of 200 million m3/year followed by a 100 million m3/year expansion. ACCIONA's May 2025 financing announcement identifies the Al Baidaa Desalination Company consortium, MAD 6.5 billion of plant investment, a 27-year construction and O&M role, and 300 million m3/year of final production. ONEE's year-end 2025 profile keeps Casablanca under construction. ACCIONA's Q1 2026 statement names Casablanca among the projects driving Water construction activity, while its June 2026 integrated report describes faster-than-expected delivery across key water projects including Casablanca. A current project-team profile places first-phase completion in February 2027 and second-phase completion in August 2028, and says the first phase includes the common marine works, tunnelling, and electrical systems. ACCIONA's project profile gives 559,000 m3/day in the first stage plus 279,500 m3/day in the second. NOVEC's owner-side marine study covers bathymetry, geology, seawater quality, waves, currents, and pretreatment selection. Moroccan project reporting identifies two approximately 1.85 km seawater-intake lines and an approximately 2.5 km discharge outfall. The corporate execution signals confirm active delivery but do not establish tunnel breakthrough, installed intake or outfall geometry, accepted common systems, first water, or commercial operation.

Phase: construction. Evidence reviewed: 15 July 2026.

Project sources 9