Climate Investment Funds approves loan for water project in Niger

Climate Investment Funds (CIF) has approved a loan of $22m to support a water resources mobilisation and development project in Niger.

African Development Bank (AfDB), which backed the loan, will also co-finance the project through its own resources.

Niger will use the funds to construct mini-dams, drill wells and boreholes, execute irrigation schemes, control erosion and provide financial assistance for other water management measures.

AfDB said that Niger will use the loan facility to benefit and improve the lives of 700,000 people in the country.

The bank will also form a partnership with the local development support project being implemented in the Diffa Region, as well as the Kandadji Program, which is a project for the development of water resources in the Dosso and Tillaberi regions.

The partnership will seek to exercise best practices from the other two projects.

AfDB will also provide technical assistance in designing and developing these projects, with a launch scheduled for late 2012.

The bank will also use the recently approved CIF loan of $13m to implement a Climate Information Development and Forecasting Project in the country.