Parliamentary Report Calls for Increased Convergence of Water Policies and Programs

Rabat – Increased convergence of water policies and programs is necessary to ensure the efficiency of the sector’s national strategy, said the Thematic Working Group on the Evaluation of Public Policies in the House of Advisors.

In a report presented on Tuesday at the annual meeting on “the 2009-2020 national water strategy” chaired by Hakim Benchamach, speaker of the House of Advisors, the working group called for the establishment of regional action plans to manage water resources at the level of each region.

To this end, it is important to take into account the specificities of each region so that it could address current and future challenges, while specifying the roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders, noted the report.

Among the recommendations of the working group is the development of a regional map for the diversification of agricultural production taking into account the available water resources, with a view to extending the cultivated areas, in addition to paying special attention to the complementarity between dam projects and agricultural projects.

The document also insists on the effective implementation of the climate policy at the level of cities and territorial areas, with the support of the new prerogatives given to regional councils in terms of territorial planning as a lever of mobilization at the territorial level.

The working group also called for the protection of water resources against pollution through rigorous application of the related laws and the obligation to treat wastewater and use it for agricultural purposes.

This session took place in the presence of Mustapha Ramid, Minister of State in charge of Human Rights and Relations with Parliament, Aziz Akhannouch, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development, Water and Forests, Abdelkader Amara, Minister of Equipment, Transport, Logistics and Water, and Noureddine Boutayeb, Minister Delegate for the Interior.