Laâyoune Desalination
Seawater RO, 52,000 m3/day across two reverse osmosis units of 26,000 m3/day each, about 19 million m3/year in Morocco.
Operational
The record
- Country
- Morocco
- Location
- Laâyoune
- Coordinates
- 27.104, -13.409
- Technology
- Seawater RO
- Capacity
- 52,000 m3/day across two reverse osmosis units of 26,000 m3/day each, about 19 million m3/year
- Capital cost
- MAD 450 m, ONEE's overall cost of the second reverse osmosis unit and its boreholes, reservoirs, pumping and remote management, completed in October 2022 (ONEE communique in Le Matin, 14 Oct 2022), converted at MAD 10.16 per US$ (World Bank official exchange rate, 2022 average); in February 2021 the plant had been quoted at MAD 370 m. The separate MAD 450 m estimate for the 2023 tender for the direct seawater intake (Le360, 30 Jun 2023) is for later works and is not added; earlier units' costs not disclosed
- Stage
- Operational
- Owner or client
- ONEE
- Contractor
- Not identified in the sources consulted
- Operator
- ONEE
- Finance
- —
- Award or start year
- 2019
- Commissioned
- 2022-10
Record last checked 2026-10-16.
History
- 1995-01
First desalination units commissioned
- 2005-01
Extended
- 2010-01
Extended again
- 2021-06
Second plant 82% built
- 2022-10
Second plant completed, taking the city to 52,000 m3/day
- 2023-06
Expansion to double the new unit through a direct seawater intake estimated at 450 million dirhams
Sources
10 references
Every field in the record above is taken from the references below. A field that none of them confirms prints as a dash.
- ONEE, Experience de l'ONEE en matiere de dessalement d'eau, IME webinar (Jun 2021). remoc.org.
- ONEE's own inventory lists Laayoune seawater desalination at 26,000 m3/day commissioned in stages in 1995, 2005 and 2010, with a second 26,000 m3/day reverse osmosis unit on direct seawater intake then 82% built; energy use 2.64 kWh/m3 rising to 3.5 kWh/m3 on the direct intake, against 4.54 kWh/m3 without energy recovery, at a production cost of 11 dirhams/m3. Le Matin, Laayoune: nouvelle station de dessalement de l'eau de mer achevee par l'ONEE (14 Oct 2022), read via web.archive.org. web.archive.org.
- Quoting ONEE's communique: the project, comprising the desalination plant, coastal boreholes for raw water, three reservoirs of 5,500 m3, pumping stations and remote management, mobilised a global amount of 450 million dirhams and produces 26,000 m3/day by reverse osmosis, taking the city to 66,700 m3/day of which 52,000 m3/day from desalination, serving about 280,000 people to beyond 2035. The article gives no dollar figure.
- Hespress FR, 25 Feb 2021. fr.hespress.com.
- Earlier figures for the same scheme: a global cost of 670 million dirhams, 370 million for the first tranche (the plant) and 300 million for the second (a direct seawater intake planned for 2023).
- EcoActu, Laayoune: 4eme station de dessalement achevee par l'ONEE (Oct 2022). ecoactu.ma.
- Three reservoirs totalling 5,500 m3, pumping stations and remote management; fourth ONEE desalination plant delivered in three years after Al Hoceima in May 2020, Tarfaya in February 2021 and Agadir in January 2022. Coordinates added on 20 September 2026 from OpenStreetMap way 556815586, named Station de dessalement and Planta Desaladora and carrying addr:city El Marsa, an industrial polygon of about 3.1 hectares at 27.1035 -13.4092. The feature is tagged landuse=industrial and not as a water works, which is why an earlier sweep found only storage tanks at El Marsa.
- Reverse geocoding returns Plage de Laayoune in the pachalik of El Marsa, province of Laayoune, and the point lies 1.15 km from the OpenStreetMap coastline, consistent with the coastal boreholes ONEE describes.
- Le360, Laayoune: 450 millions de dirhams pour doubler la capacite de la nouvelle station de dessalement (30 Jun 2023). fr.le360.ma.
- MENA Water Review major projects register and PPP pipeline — compiled from procurer publications, development-bank project pages and trade reporting; each record names its source.
The 450 million dirhams is the estimated contract value for doubling the new unit through a direct seawater intake, the expansion phase; the earlier unit was already in service from October 2022.