The City Council of Casablanca has awarded a contract to construct the $1.5bn Casablanca Landfill and Recycling Centre project in Morocco.

According to local media reports, the contract was awarded to a joint venture comprising Morocco’s Nareva Holding, Japan’s Hitachi and Hitachi Environment Investment, which is a subsidiary of Kanadevia Corporation.

Kanadevia Corporation was formerly known as Hitachi Zosen Corporation. The company changed its name in 2024 as part of a wider rebranding strategy focused on environmental and decarbonisation businesses.

The project will be developed in the Mediouna province of Casablanca. It will serve about 3.9 million people in the city.

It is understood that the investment includes $400m in maintenance costs over 33 years.

The facility is designed to process about 4,000 tonnes a day of municipal and related waste through sorting, recycling, incineration, biogas recovery and energy production. Electricity generated by the plant is expected to meet about 20% of Casablanca’s electricity demand.

The project covers the construction of waste-receiving pits, incineration and recycling units, biogas processing facilities and energy-generation plants across a 264-hectare site.

Associated infrastructure will include administrative buildings, worker facilities, waste-sorting stations, roads, drainage systems and utility networks.

The scope also includes landfill rehabilitation works, environmental protection measures, grid integration and commissioning activities.

Waste management strategy

The project forms part of Casablanca’s broader efforts to modernise its waste management infrastructure and reduce reliance on landfill disposal.

Local officials have raised concerns about the condition of the city’s existing landfill, which has accumulated waste to a height of nearly 70 metres and poses environmental and operational risks.

During the initial phase, the consortium will continue landfill operations and develop transitional landfill capacity while the recycling and waste-to-energy facility is constructed. The project will later transition to full recycling and energy recovery operations.

The contract will commence on 1 December 2026, with a three-year construction period, local media reported.