The National Ports Agency (ANP) and the French Development Agency (AFD) signed a declaration on Tuesday for a €100 million financing package to support port development, including projects in six locations across the southern provinces.
The financing, the third package under the two agencies’ partnership, will help fund ANP’s 2023-2030 investment program, which covers port infrastructure development and measures to make ports more environmentally sustainable.
Tan-Tan, Tarfaya, Laayoune, Boujdour, Dakhla and Lamhiriz are among the locations identified for investment.
The package will take the form of a 13-year concessional loan granted directly to ANP without a state guarantee.
The declaration was signed in Rabat by ANP Director General Mustapha Farès and AFD’s Morocco Director Catherine Bonnaud, in the presence of Equipment and Water Minister Nizar Baraka and French Ambassador Philippe Lalliot.
Baraka said the investments planned for the southern provinces were intended to improve their links with the rest of the country and support economic activity along Morocco’s Atlantic coast.
He said the projects would help develop maritime connections and trade opportunities between Morocco and other African countries.
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Lalliot, meanwhile, drew attention to the risks posed by climate change to port infrastructure, particularly rising sea levels and stronger waves.
He said protecting coastal facilities and improving environmental conditions would be important elements of the partnership.
The French ambassador also reaffirmed France’s commitment to supporting development projects across Morocco, including in the Sahara.
The signing was attended by Abdellatif Zaghnoun, director general of the National Agency for the Strategic Management of State Holdings and Monitoring of the Performance of Public Establishments and Enterprises.
The €100 million package is the third financing operation under the ANP-AFD partnership and will contribute to the ports agency’s investment program running until 2030.
