| August 19, 2004 - The International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group, recently announced that the government of Morocco chose - in a highly competitive and transparent bidding process - a private partner for the planned public private partnership (PPP) irrigation project in the citrus-growing area of Guerdane, Taroudant province. The Guerdane project is the first PPP irrigation project in the world.  Surface water is urgently needed for irrigated citrus farming in the 10,000 hectare Guerdane perimeter, which currently depends largely on the extraction of rapidly diminishing groundwater supplies drawn up from the Souss basin.
"It is estimated that more than 100,000 people earn their living, either directly or indirectly, from citrus farming in the Guerdane perimeter, which is noteworthy for its dynamism, high-level of productivity and innovation in the commercialization of citrus production to both local and external markets," said Sami Haddad, IFC director for Middle East and North Africa. "The success of the bidding process for the Guerdane PPP irrigation project sets a worldwide precedent for future irrigation investments in a very difficult global environment." IFC - with the support of a technical assistance grant from France's Fonds D'etudes et D'aide au Secteur Prive - provided the government with advice on structuring and implementing the Guerdane PPP irrigation project to deliver a high-quality, accountable and financially and environmentally sustainable public service to end-users. The bid for the Guerdane PPP irrigation project was won by a consortium led by Omnium Nord-Africain (ONA), a Moroccan industrial conglomerate, and therefore heralds the creation of Morocco's first ever domestic private infrastructure operator. Other members of the consortium include Morocco's Caisse de Depot et Gestion, France's Compagnie Nationale d'Amenagement de la Region du Bas-Rhone et du Languedoc, and Infrastructure Development and Management, an Austrian firm. As part of its contractual obligations, the ONA-led consortium will enter into a 30-year concession for the construction, co-financing, and management of an irrigation network. The network will channel water from a dam complex, located some 60 miles from Guerdane, to some 600 citrus farmers. The Guerdane irrigation project will cost an estimated US$85 million to build, of which the Moroccan government will provide around US$50 million - half as a loan and half in grant form. The tariff structure submitted by the ONA-led consortium is significantly lower than the price that citrus farmers in Guerdane typically pay for irrigated groundwater supplies. 
Hassan Benabderrazik, general secretary of the Moroccan ministry of agriculture, expressed great satisfaction with the outcome of the bidding process, saying, "By bringing in the private sector, Morocco will benefit from the integration of capital and management expertise from the private operator, which should produce cost-reducing efficiency in this public-private partnership." He added, "Competition and transparency helped the government secure a highly-competitive tariff for the end-user of the project - and indeed local farmers have told the ministry that they are highly satisfied with the result." Bernard Sheahan, IFC director for Advisory Services, added that "A high level of competition and transparency has been maintained throughout the process, with a positive outcome for the government and the farmers. The Moroccan authorities should be praised for their strong commitment to making this project succeed." Contacts:
Washington: Imane Akalay, Phone: +1 (202) 458-8305, Email: iakalay@ifc.org
Rabat: Joumana Cobein, Phone: + (212) 3765-2479, Email: jcobein@ifc.org
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