Proparco and BMCI agrees to fund Arma, to assist the company’s sanitation and waste management program in Casablanca
French investor Proparco and Morrocan Bank BMCI have agreed to fund the sanitation and waste management program of Arma Casablanca.
To assist the city of Casablanca, Morocco’s economic capital, with the major challenges involved in waste management, BMCI has agreed to provide financing, backed by a Proparco guarantee, to Arma Casablanca so that the company can update and upgrade the city’s waste removal and sanitation facilities.
Sanitation — a challenge of vital concern to the city
In Casablanca, Morocco’s economic capital with c. 3.4 million inhabitants, and across the country, population growth and urbanization have led to an exponential increase in household waste. Any number of cities around the world are confronted with much the same issues.
Casablanca has succeeded in setting up an increasingly structured system for managing a volume of household refuse that has risen to an estimated 1 million tons a year.
Upgrading the city’s waste removal and sanitation services, which have been handled via a concession contract since 2004, is a vital concern, and the municipal authorities rely heavily on key local organizations like Arma to help them achieve excellence in this area.
Created in 2011, Arma is a household waste management and sanitation company. Its operations today span twenty towns and cities, including five of Morocco’s ten largest. In 2019, Casablanca awarded Arma a contract in competitive bidding to manage sanitation and waste removal in four of the metropolitan area’s eight prefectures (districts).
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Financing to optimize household waste removal and keep public amenities clean
Managed by Arma Casablanca, these concessions are designed to improve urban waste removal and sanitation, particularly through a plan for substantially higher investment and the introduction of night-time waste collection to ensure a smoother flow of traffic and easier access for garbage trucks.
The BMCI financing — supported by Proparco — will help upgrade those services by digitalizing the vehicle fleet with smart meters and the like, a first in Moroccan waste management. This will result in optimized truck routing and enhanced, real-time tracking and management of the service provided.
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Through its Proparco-supported contribution to the Arma project, BMCI aims to highlight its commitment to sustainable, responsible financing — a key component of its Positive Banking strategy.
This high-impact investment is also expected to directly or indirectly provide nearly 2,400 local jobs over a five-year period.
Lastly, it will contribute to Sustainable Development Goals 8 (decent work and economic growth), 9 (industry, innovation, and infrastructure), 11 (sustainable cities and communities), and 12 (responsible consumption and production).
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