World Bank to Fund Yemen Water Supply Scheme

The World Bank (WB) has approved a $5m grant to expand water supply access to poor households living in peri-urban areas of Yemen.

The bank is serving as an administrator for the Yemen Government’s Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA) initiative to increase access to water supplies and sanitation services in the nation.

The bank said only 56% of the country’s urban population has access to piped water.

The project’s first phase is expected to benefit 210,000 people including 38,000 people in Sana’a, Ibb, Dhamar and Hajah.

WB and GPOBA task team leader Richard Pollard said the beneficiary households will gain savings on monthly water bills and on healthcare costs.

The government has unveiled water reforms, created local water and wastewater corporations and is exploring partnerships with the local private sector to address the service gap.

Private operators will be selected based on the lowest subsidy and the scheme’s output-based approach.

These outputs include building or rehabilitating water supply systems and installing domestic connections and delivering water supply for three months.

The tender process and management of funds will be taken care of by a project management unit of the multi-donor water sector support programme, which is also supported by the Netherlands and German governments.

GPOBA received funds from the UK’s Department for International Development, $9.1m from the World Bank’s International Development Association and $2m from the Government of Yemen.

Other GPOBA donors include the International Finance Corporation, the Directorate-General for International Cooperation of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Australian Agency for International Development, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency.