Page 3 - Weekly highlights by L' Economiste

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Weekly highlights

Water stress: Red alert

M INISTER Nizar Baraka of Jorf Lasfar (25 million cubic meters
for the drinking water) during the first
is on the move like never
part of 2023 (OCP).
before. And for a good rea-
son, the water situation is catastrophic
and several regions are starting to feel n The study for Nador
thirsty. After convening an extraor- launched: Use of additional ground-
dinary meeting chaired by the Head water and launch of the seawater de-
of Government, with the presence of salination project in Nador is on the
the ministers concerned, the minister agenda. An all-encompassing study
turned to members of Parliament to for the execution of the seawater desa-
involve them in this issue which trans- lination project in the Oriental region
cends political colors and involves the has been launched. The opening of the
entire nation. bids took place last June, with a pro-
duction capacity of 100 million cubic
n Launch of desalination in meters per year, as an initial phase. Its
Casablanca: Annual supplies from production will be doubled in a second
the Al Massira dam to supply Casa- phase. It is the line ministry which co-
blanca South, Berrechid, Settat, El vers the charges.
Jadida, Safi, Sidi Bennour, Yousssou-
fia, and Benguerir reach 300 million n The great return of water
cubic meters, ... except that the stock of tank trucks: In order to ensure
the Al Massira dam on July 05 reached supply in rural areas and zones suffe-
134 million cubic meters, which cor- Today, all the hydraulic perimeters record a significant deficit which has negatively impacted the water ring from a shortage, a complemen-
supply from the dams
responds to a 5.5% filling rate versus tary emergency program has been set
11.82% on the same day last year. The nal Office for Electricity and Drinking (Cherifian Office for Phosphate). The up. In this sense, two agreements were
minister concluded that it was neces- Water) is leading this operation. project involves 22 million cubic me- signed last April between the Minis-
sary to launch the construction of the ters for industrial water, and 15 million tries of the Interior and Finance. They
seawater desalination station projects in n Desalination also for Safi for drinking water. According to fore- consist of the purchase of 706 tank
the Casablanca-Settat region. Indeed, and El Jadida: Added to this is the casts, the start of its operation is to take trucks with 471 million MAD from
last March, a call for expressions of in- acceleration of the construction of the place before the end of this year. Still the Interior Ministry to be distributed
terest for the region was launched, wit- seawater desalination station to ensure within the same perimeter, it will be a over 75 provinces to guarantee drin-
hin the framework of the public-private the supply of drinking water to the question of guaranteeing the supply of king water in the centers and hamlets
partnership and following the opening city of Safi, through the transfer of the drinking water for the city of El Jadida which are experiencing a deficit. o
of bids on June 24. The ONEE (Natio- implementation of this project to OCP from the seawater desalination station M.C.

Coding schools in all universities

D IGITAL technologies are often this alliance is the creation of 70 ICT
Academies in universities by 2025, for
mentioned as one of the key
points of the roadmap of the
(big data, 5G, AI, Internet of Things,
Minister of Higher Education, Abdel- training in various digital specialties
latif Miraoui, for the transformation of IT security, etc.). The ambition is to
the sector. One will have to wait for the train 15,000 students and certify 5,000
end of the regional and national mee- within three years. An IT-oriented job
tings of the acceleration plan launched fair is on the menu, as well as capacity
last March to have more details. But building for teaching and administra-
the minister already shares one of his tive teams. Efforts will continue to be
projects, that of coding schools which made to digitize educational content.
should be placed in all universities. Following the coronavirus pandemic,
Called Code 212, these schools would universities have made fairly good pro-
be open to all students, regardless of gress concerning this project (digitali-
their specialty. The idea is to provide zation of courses, creation of recording
students with dual skills, in their own studios, digital university project, etc.).
discipline and in terms of digital tech- A National Center for Digitization and
nologies which are now essential. A Like the “Schools 1337” launched by the OCP group, the Codes 212 should call on peer learning, Distance Education has also been crea-
pilot model has already been set up at but they would also mobilize educational teams. In addition to its three Schools 1337, in Khouribga, ted. Finally, the upgrading of the infor-
the National School of Arts and Crafts Benguerir, and Tetouan Shore, the OCP group has two other computer coding schools, YouCode, in mation systems of the universities will
(ENSAM) in Casablanca, where a co- Youssoufia and Safi. be addressed. The only remaining issue
ding space has been laid out, according spaces is still being improved. The field, the ministry has also established is student access to computer tools and
to a source at the Conference of Uni- experience could quickly be genera- a partnership with Huawei Techno- wifi. o
versity Presidents (CPU). That coding lized. To enhance students’ skills in the logies Morocco. One of the goals of Ahlam NAZIH
Friday 15 July 2022