AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK GROUP PROJECT : WATER ACCESS SUSTAINABILITY AND SECURITY PROJECT (PSAE) COUNTRY : MOROCCO SUMMARY RESETTLEMENT ACTION PLAN (RMP) Project Name: Water Access Sustainability and Security Programme – Project No.: P-MA-E00-011 AfDB 14 Country : Morocco Department : RDGN Division: RDGN2 1. INTRODUCTION At the request of the Moroccan authorities, the African Development Bank will support the implementation of the Water Access Sustainability and Security Project (PSAE) in Morocco. From an environmental and social perspective, the project is classified in Category 1, given its scale and the main environmental and social impacts identified. The project implementation requires the expropriation of private land in the public interest. As a result, and in accordance with the African Development Bank (AfDB) policy on involuntary resettlement of populations (Operational Safeguard 2 - OS2), the Moroccan Government must prepare and submit to the Bank a compensation and resettlement plan setting out the principles and procedures for the adoption of compensation and resettlement measures for the project- affected persons, and establishing an approximate budget and indicative implementation schedule. The objectives are to: (i) minimise involuntary resettlement as much as possible; (ii) avoid the destruction of property to the extent possible; and (iii) compensate affected persons to offset the loss of residential land, farmland, buildings and equipment, as well as loss of income. In accordance with Moroccan Law No. 12/03, drinking water supply (DWS) projects are not subject to an environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA). Similarly, Law No. 7-81 on expropriation in the public interest does not provide for the development of a Resettlement Action Plan (RAP). Nevertheless, ESIAs have been developed based on available technical studies as well as a Resettlement Master Plan, which will contain a description of the principles and procedures governing the expropriation and compensation regime for the development of public-interest infrastructure. That plan will provide the framework for the development of specific RAPs for each sub-project upon completion of the land ownership surveys during the finalisation of the layout. In fact to avoid expropriations, the Office National de l’Electricité et de l’Eau (National Electricity and Water Authority) (ONEE) will review the layout as much as possible, based on the elements of the land ownership surveys at hand. In general, ONEE seeks to install pipes as much as possible in public rights-of-way and will work to avoid encroachment 2 on private property, in order to limit expropriation procedures. ONEE reviews the proposed technical design based on plot inventories, to assess the technical feasibility of avoiding acquisitions as much as possible, particularly for the location of infrastructure, which, based on the experience of ONEE, represents the majority of acquisitions. This approach is consistent with the requirements of Operational Safeguard 2 (OS-2) of the Integrated Safeguards System (ISS). In this regard and as part of technical assistance envisaged, a Social Protection Expert will be recruited. Among other things, this expert will be responsible for preparing full or abbreviated RAPs, according to the data from the land ownership surveys. Of course, these RAPs will be validated, disseminated and implemented, in accordance with the requirements of OS-2 of AfDB’s ISS prior to the works start-up. The objective of the Master Plan is to describe the principles and procedures governing the expropriation and compensation regime for the realisation of public infrastructure under the programme. It summarises the various management acts and actions undertaken, in accordance with the national regulations on expropriations in the public interest, and the requirements of the African Development Bank policy on land acquisition and involuntary resettlement. The Resettlement Master Plan clarifies the rules that apply to the identification of persons who are likely to be affected by the implementation of project activities. It also includes an analysis of the economic and social consequences resulting from the implementation of project activities that may result in land or property being taken away from people, especially the most vulnerable. 2. PROJECT DESCRIPTION 2.1 Project Objectives The project for the preservation of drinking water resources consists in strengthening and securing access to drinking water in urban and rural agglomerations in the Guercif, Zagora, Al Hoceima, Tangier and Beni Mellal provinces. It aims to meet the growing drinking and industrial water needs in these areas by 2040. The programme is part of the strategy of the Kingdom of Morocco to mobilise water and streamline its use by 2030. 2.2 Project Components The project consists of the following main components: A. Strengthen the drinking water supply of several urban and rural agglomerations; B. Provide technical support, including validation of studies, works control and supervision, and acquisitions audit. The different components of each sub-project are presented in the following table: Table 1 Presentation of Sub-projects Guercif Treatment plant Conventional treatment plant of 2*150 l/s extendible to 450 l/s Raw water pipeline FD DN600 steel pipeline over 20 km Treated water pipeline BP DN 600 and 800 pipeline from the treatment plant to the Guercif arrival reservoir over 60 km Al Hoceima Raw water supply FD DN700 and 600 steel pipeline over of 31 km Zagora Treatment plant Conventional treatment plant of 2*125 l/s extensible to 375 l/s Raw water pipe FD DN 800 steel pipeline over 22 km Treated water pipeline BP DN pipe between 900 and 400 over a distance of 105 km Tangier Raw water supply pipeline DN 1100 mm discharge pipeline over 500 lm and DN 1 200 mm gravity pipe over 12 km 3 Pumping plant (GC and Raw water plant: Q = 1000 l/s, HMT = 28.5 m Equipment) Beni Mellal Treatment plant Installation of an additional pumping unit at the existing raw water pumping plant Extension of the Afourer treatment plant for an additional flow of 190 l/s; Sortie ST – Amont Souk Installation of a BP / FD supply pipe 600 mm in diameter over approximately Sebt pipeline 20.5 km Antenne Oulad Ayad pipe Installation of a PVC supply line DN 500/315 mm in diameter over a total line of about 24.3 km * Connection to the Oulad Zidouh arrival reservoir Amont Souk Sebt pipeline Installation of a PVC 500/400/110 supply line over a total line of about 15 km; – Oulad Zidouh reservoir Construction of a pumping plant (Q=6l/s; HMT=100 m) 2.3 Project Impact Area and Beneficiaries The project area comprises the regions of Tangier in the north-west of the country (1.3 million inhabitants, the majority of whom live in urban areas), Al Hoceima in the extreme north (300,000 inhabitants, of whom only 40% live in urban areas), Guercif in the north-east (300,000 inhabitants, of whom about 60% live in urban areas), Beni Mellal in the centre (250,000 inhabitants) and Zagora in the south-east (350,000 inhabitants, of whom less than 20% live in urban areas). Overall, the average household size in the project area according to the 2014 census, ranges from 4 (Tangier Province) to 8 (Zagora Province), which falls within the national average of 4.6. The percentage of young people (between the ages of 15 and 59) ranges from 57.2% in Zagora Province to 75.3% in Azilal Province (Beni Mellal sub-project). The multidimensional poverty rate is very heterogeneous and ranges from 2.9% in Tangier Province to 17.3% in Guercif Province. The regions affected by the project experience water shortage each year during summer. Water shortage has become acute recently and public protests are becoming increasingly frequent, with people calling on the Government to find solutions rapidly. The most affected regions are in the South (Zagora) and in the East (Guercif), because of their arid climate. In addition to the arid regions, other areas with high and average rainfall, such as Al Hoceima, Tangier and Beni Mellal, also complain about shortage of drinking water resources owing to their strong industrial and tourism development (such as the new industrial city known as "Mohamed VI Tangier Tech" and the Tadla agropole in Beni Mellal), resulting in increased demand for drinking water. 2.4 Project Cost The total cost of the project, net of taxes and customs duties, is estimated at UA 194 million or MAD 2.594 billion. The portion to be financed by the Bank (AfDB window and Africa Growing Together Fund - AGTF) amounts to about UA 97.0 million or MAD 1 296.9 million. 3. POTENTIAL IMPACTS 3.1 Sources of Impact Although the ONEE-Water Branch (referred to as ONEE-BE in this document) has made every effort to ensure that these expropriations are minimised (making maximum use of the public domain), programme execution requires the expropriation of private land in the public interest. ONEE has opted to lay pipes in public rights-of-way as much as possible, avoiding encroachment on private property, in order to limit expropriation procedures. It reviews the 4 technical design proposed based on plot inventories, to assess the technical feasibility of avoiding acquisitions as much as possible, in particular for the location of infrastructure, which based on its experience represents the majority of acquisitions. This approach is consistent with the requirements of ISS Operational Safeguard 2. These expropriations will be carried out for both the construction of water storage and treatment plants (6 hectares of useful area) and the laying of pipes (5 m wide on a total line of about 300 km necessary). It is worth noting that laying of pipes on private land will amount to nothing but temporary occupation. This leaves the affected persons the opportunity to continue using the land after the pipes have been laid, after receiving compensation for the loss suffered.