Central Africa: Congo River Basin Gets 2.44 Million Euros Grants From the African Water Facility

4 June 2007
African Development Bank (Abidjan)

Tunis — The African Development Bank (AfDB) has signed two agreements with the International Commission of the Congo-Oubangi-Sangha River Basin (CICOS) amounting to 2.44 million euros from the African Water Facility (AWF) to finance programmes aimed at improving the integrated management of Congo River Basin resources shared by nine African countries.

The agreements were singed on Friday, June 1, 2007, in a boat on the Congo River by Mr. Kordje Bedoumra, Director of the Department of Water & Sanitation Department and African Water Facility (AWF) for the Bank, Mr. Benjamin NDALA, Secretary General of CICOS (Commission Internationale du bassin du Congo Oubangui Sangha) in the presence of Mr. Bruno Jean Richard ITOUA President of the African Ministers Council on Water (AMCOW) and Minister of Energy and Water Resources of the Republic of Congo as well as other African ministers and officials responsible for water affairs attending the 6th Ordinary Session of AMCOW held in Brazzaville from May 29-31, 2007. Mr. A. Beileh, AWF Coordinator and Mr. T. Woudeneh, AWF Chief Water Operations Officer, were also present on behalf of the Facility.

The two agreements, signed on a boat in the Congo River, were hailed as a significant event of engagement of the African Water Facility to support the objectives of creating an enabling environment for sustainable water resources management of the Congo Basin with a view to bringing about socio-economic development and environmental wellbeing for the benefit of countries sharing the water resources in particular, Africa in general. The Congo River Basin, with annual renewable water resources of about 1,268 billion m3, accounts for about 30% of the water resources in Africa. The Congo River Basin is shared by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic, the Republic of Congo, Angola, Cameroon, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zambia

The first agreement provides a grant of 1,988,673 euros to be used to finance the preparation of a Strategic Action Plan for integrated management of the basin's water resources. The Strategic Action Plan will help strengthen the institutional framework for effective management and improve the skills of CICOS as well as provide an appropriate planning mechanism and international partnership for the basin's development. The project is in line with NEPAD's priority areas of intervention with regards to the programme on trans-boundary water resources in Africa as well as the AWF 2005-2009 Operational Programme.

The total cost of the project is estimated at 2,204,673 Euros. The AWF grant represents 90.2 % of the cost or 1,988,673 euros. CICOS will contribute 216,000 euros or 9.8% of the costs.

The second grant of 455,000 euros will finance the development of information management systems to enable CISOS monitor the basin's resources. This involves establishing an information management and knowledge system as well as data collection on the socio-economic developments, specifically on the gender situation along the riveraine area of the basin. The overall objective of the project is to support sustainable management of the Congo Basin, through the improvement of CICOS' capacity to manage information and knowledge of the basin's water resources.

Activities envisaged under the project include the construction of a hydrological station and related components within the basin and at a selected site, and creating the information management system within the CICOS secretariat. The total cost of the project is 505,000 euros. The AWF grant represents 90% of the costs or 455,000 euros. The remaining 10% (50,000 euros) will be provided by CICOS.

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