As Morocco suffers its worst drought for 40 years, French water specialist Veolia has agreed in principle to build a desalination plant near the capital, Rabat.

Procured as a public-private partnership, the plant will be able to produce 822 million litres of drinking water a day, making it the biggest in Africa and the second biggest in the world.

It will be able to supply around 9 million inhabitants of the Rabat, Kénitra, and Fès regions.

The outline deal has Veolia financing, designing and building the plant, and running it for 35 years.

The company said it will “bring the best of its cutting-edge expertise in desalination for a reference plant in terms of efficiency, innovation and environmental protection”.

It adds that the facility could be powered mainly by electricity from renewable sources.

If it goes ahead, the plant would help relieve the kingdom’s water stress. It’s experiencing a seven-year drought, with rainfall continuing to decline and reservoirs and ground water levels at historic lows.

The World Resources Institute ranks Morocco 22nd among countries facing water stress, owing to a combination of scarcity of rainfall, climate change, urbanisation and population growth.

American aid agency USAID notes that many rural communities rely on a single water source, and that the “lack of a functioning sanitation network and wastewater treatment system causes scarce water resources to become contaminated and unsuitable for multipurpose use”.