Casablanca water and power company backs Morocco's World Cup bid

The Casablanca water and power supply company LYDEC on Wednesday agreed to contribute to Morocco's bid to host the 2006 World Cup.

Under a convention concluded with the Maroc-2006 Association, Lydec will pay two million dirhams ($200,000) in contribution to promoting the Moroccan candidacy.

Morocco's Telecom company Ittissalat Al-Maghreb, the national carrier RAM, BMCE Bank and oil company SOMEPI already agreed to pay the same amount to the Maroc Mondial 2006 Association which promotes the bid.

Morocco is competing with fellow African nation, South Africa, Germany, England and Brazil to host the World Cup.

Observers believe that the race for winning the bid is between Morocco and South Africa, as FIFA (world football's governing board) wants an African country to host the World Cup.

FIFA is to select next July 6 the host country for the finals.

The association seeks to collect $2.2 million to finance a worldwide campaign to glean backing for Morocco's bid.

This is the third time that Morocco has bid to host the World Cup. The two previous bids (1994, 1998) were lost to the USA and France.