AFDB to finance Mali drinking water supply project

The African Development Bank Group (AFDB) will provide a $75.5m loan to help finance a drinking water project for 1.6 million people in Mali’s capital of Bamako.

The loan will pave the way for the production of 144,000 cubic metres of potable water a day and the regulation of the price of water at standpipes to make access to water easier for the poor.

A water treatment plant will be constructed along with eight water tanks with storage capacities ranging from 2,000m³ to 10,000m³, an 880km distribution network, and over 66,000 low-cost connections and and 1,100 standpipes for underprivileged households in the poorest neighbourhoods.

The project will also update Bamako’s sanitation system and propose an appropriate organisational and institutional framework for the urban sanitation sub-sector. It will also establish a geographic information system for the Mali Drinking Water Heritage Corporation.

The total cost of the project will be co-financed by the Agence Française de Developpement along with the European Union, European Investment Bank, World Bank, Islamic Development Bank, Italian Cooperation and the Government of Mali. It will be implemented over a 48-month period.