Today in the city of Kuwait, seven Project Agreements were signed within the context of the Framework Agreement signed on 31/02/2013 between the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco and the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, for the utilization of the US$ 1.25 billion grant allocated by the Government of the State of Kuwait, and entrusted to the Fund for its administration, within the Framework of the GCC Development Program.  

The said Agreements were signed by H.E. Mr. Nizar Baraka, Minister of Economic and Financial Affairs in the Kingdom of Morocco on behalf of the Government of the Kingdom of Morocco, whereas Mr. Abdulwahab Ahmed Al-Bader, Director-General of Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development signed the agreements on behalf of Kuwait Fund.

A brief information on each project is set out below:

Roads Improvement Project

            The Project aims to support the economic development in the Kingdom of Morocco through meeting the increasing demand for transport of passengers and goods in the northern and southern regions of the Kingdom of Morocco, and reducing vehicle operating cost and travel time and the cost of transportation.

The Project comprises the improvement of two expressways, The first connects Taza and Al-Hocema with a length of 147 km, and the second connects Taznit with Bourse Al-Bouakir with a length of 58 km, to become composed of four lanes, two in each direction with a 2.0 m wide central island and 2.5 m shoulders, including rehabilitation of structures and relocation of services and new road furniture. The Project also include consultancy services for the design and supervision of construction.  

The total cost of the Project is estimated at about US$ 312.34 million, out of which 125 million will be financed from Kuwait Government's Grant and disbursed over five years.

Ports Development Project

The Project aims to support the goals of the Kingdom's National Ports Strategy for supporting energy production, increasing the fishing ports industry and the economic and social development in the southern regions of the Kingdom.

The Project comprises the construction of a new port in Asfi for coal imports for the new thermal power station, and the expansion of the New Port in Dakhla to be accommodate large industrial fishing ships, and the improvement of Terfaya Port to re-enable it to serve ocean going ferries and large fishing vessels. The Project also include consultancy services for the design and supervision of the three ports.

The total cost of the Project is estimated at about US$ 455 million, which will be financed from the Kuwait Government's Grant, and disbursed over five years.

Agriculture Projects

             The project aims at improving the living standards of farming families and agricultural sector development to contribute in enhancement of food security and creating new jobs opportunities through implementing 7 projects in different parts of the country.   

The project comprises the  civil works for land development for agriculture rehabilitation and development of irrigation schemes, flood protection and intake structures, field roads.  The projects includes establishing agricultural services centers and laboratories, provision of training extension and research services, in addition to quality control supervision and formation of agricultural cooperation and water users association.  The project also includes provision of equipment and spare parts, in addition to the consulting engineering services and supervision, as well as the  institutional support. 

The total cost of the Project is estimated at about US$ 164.54 million out of which US$ 126.50 million will be financed from Kuwait Government's Grant, to be disbursed over five years.

Construction of Three Dams Project

             The project consists of the construction of three new RCC dams in three locations; Waljat Al Sultan, Sidi Abdullah and Tiween.

The Waljat Al Sultan RCC dam aims at meeting the growing demand on electric energy, irrigation and drinking water. The dam also, provides the region with protection against seasonal floods. The said dam has a height of about 98 meters with total length at the top of about 380 meters and the total capacity of its lake about 510 m³. The dam includes facilities to supply 5m3/sec and 8.5 m3/sec irrigation water and enough supply for a hydropower plant with a capacity of about 17 MW.

The Sidi Abdulla RCC dam which aims at meeting the growing demand for irrigation and drinking water. The dam also provides the region with protection against seasonal floods.  The said dam has a height of about 58 meters with total length at the top of about 370 meters and the total capacity of its lake about 10.4 million m³. The dam includes facilities to supply 11m³/sec and a metal pipe line with 800 mm in diameters  for the supply of irrigation water.

The Tiween  RCC dam which aims at meeting the growing demand for irrigation and drinking water. The dam also provides the region with protection against seasonal floods. The said dam has a height of about 84 meters with total length at the top of about 200 meters and the total capacity of its lake about 270 million m³. The dam includes facilities to supply 1m³/sec and a metal pipe line with 800 mm in diameters for the supply of irrigation water.

The total cost of the project is estimated at about US$ 225.6 million out of which US$ 177 million will be financed from Kuwait Government's Grant, to be disbursed over four years.

Construction, Expansion and Equipping of University Students Dormitories and Food courts Project

The Project aims to support the higher education sector and the infrastructure development of the University students facilities services, through the construction and expansion and equipping five Students Dormitories and six Food courts Universities for different cities in the Kingdom Morocco, in order to keep up with the growing number of eligible students for accommodation and students meals. The project contributes to the provision of comfortable housing for students at a very suitable cost and close to the limits of the campus, which help create a favorable education climate without any problems and expenses of transportation, and close to the university students social, sports and cultural activities, also the project contributes to the provision of modern food court facilities, that would provide the most suitable healthy food meals, at nominal prices in line with low-income students. 

The Project comprises the civil works for construction of new students dormitories buildings in  two cities  (Beni Mellal, Fez Sais 3), and expansion of existing students dormitories buildings in  three cities (Casablanca, Fez Sais 2, and Moulay Ismail Rabat), and  the construction of new students food courts in six cities (Tangier, kenitra, Agadir, Meknes, Beni Mellal, and Sttat), the project also includes the supply and installation of furniture, and equipment for those buildings, and engineering services for the construction Supervision to the  implementation of the project works.

The total cost of the Project is estimated at about US$ 46.882 million, out of which US$ 18 million will be financed from Kuwait Government's Grant, to be disbursed over three years .

The Educational Institutions Project

The Project aims to support the social and economic development in the Kingdom of Morocco and to increase the rates of enrolment within the primary, secondary, and high levels of schooling. This aim is to be achieved by the construction, rehabilitation, expansion, and equipping of educational institutions in 15 Regions, which are Tangier-Tetouan, Rabat-Sale-Zemmour-Zaer, Doukkala-Abda, Gharb-Chrarda-Beni Hssen, Souss-Massa-Draa, Oriental, Fes-Boulemane, Grand Casablanca, Meknes-Tafilalet, Marrakech-Tensift-El Haouz, Chaouia-Ouardigha, Guelmim-Es Semara, Taza-Al Hoceima-Taounate, Tadla-Azilal, and Laayoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra.

The Project consists of the construction, rehabilitation, expansion, and equipping of buildings for classrooms for about 651 primary, secondary, and high schools with construction areas ranging between 847 to 5,867 square meters, to accommodate about 445,000 students. The project also includes the provision of the necessary utilities and services, particularly electricity and water, and outer perimeter walls, in addition to the necessary consulting engineering services for the studies, detailed engineering designs and supervision of construction.

The total cost of the Project is estimated at about US$ 853.4 million, out of which US$ 299.5 million will be financed from Kuwait Government's Grant, to be disbursed over five years.

Equipping of Oujda Medical University Center Project

The Project aims to support the social development by the provision of the necessary medical equipment for doctors, research fellows, students, and patients, and thus ultimately resulting in the decrease of travel suffer to other medical university centers.

The project comprises the provision and installation of the necessary medical equipment for the Specialty and Maternity Hospitals within Oujda Center, which have a capacity of about 510 beds over about 50,000 square meters. The project consists of provision and installation of all the medical and technical equipment, provision and installation of the necessary information technology equipment, provision and installation of all the furniture required, provision of all the necessary medical logistics, such as wheelchairs etc., and provision of all beds requirements.

The total cost of the Project is estimated at about US$ 61.121 million, out of which US$ 49 million will be financed from Kuwait Government's Grant, to be disbursed over three years.

By signing these Agreements, the total amount allocated from the Kuwaiti Grant would be about US$ 1.25 billion, that is in addition to the ongoing operations of Kuwait Fund in Morocco, whereby the Fund had extended 37 loans totaling about 387.814 million Kuwaiti Dinars, equivalent to about U.S.$ 1.574 billion to finance projects in various sectors, as well one Technical Assistance and a Grant totaling about 250 thousand Kuwaiti Dinars (equivalent to about U.S.$ 875 thousand) to finance the preparation of the technical and feasibility studies for the supply of potable water in the rural areas, and the improvement of Dar Al Tademun in the city of Asila, respectively.