The special project vehicle incorporated to develop Agadir desalination plant in Morocco has appointed UK consultants Mott MacDonald as lenders’ technical adviser.

Spanish Abengoa started construction on the plant on 9 March 2015.

The Office National de Electricite et de l’Eau Potable (ONEE) awarded Abengoa and InfraMaroc, a subsidiary of local CDG Capital, a design, build, operate, transfer (DBOT) contract for the desalination plant in May 2014.

Mott MacDonald will monitor the design and construction of the plant and analyse potential risks for the lender. The work also involves reviewing administrative procedures, the development of studies, works progress and the handover process.

The 100,000 cubic-metre-a-day (cm/d) desalination plant will be the largest in Morocco and supply 800,000 people Greater Agadir area. Abengoa will operate and maintain the plant for a 20-year period following its scheduled completion in late 2016.

The plant will use ultrafiltration pre-treatment to the advanced reverse osmosis process. Capacity may be increased in the future by an additional 100,000 cm/d of drinking water.

A consortium of local banks led by Banque Marocaine du Commerce Exterieur (BMCE) are financing the €82m ($88.4m) project.

This is the first project that ONEE has developed under a public-private partnership (PPP) system.