Africa: In Preparation of Paris International Conference On Water for Rural Africa: African Ministers of Finance And of Water Resources Meet Adb President in France

31 March 2005
African Development Bank (Abidjan)
press release

Paris — Some forty African Ministers in charge of Water Resources and of Finance met today in Paris with the President of the African Development Bank (ADB) Group, Mr. Omar Kabbaj. This meeting, attended by Michel Camdessus, the personal representative for Africa of President Jacques Chirac, and the chair of the African Ministers Council on Water, Mrs. Maria Mutagamba, was held in anticipation of a conference with donors on bringing pipe-borne water to rural Africa.

Today's meeting in the European office of the World Bank focused on the Group's Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative (RWSSI) which will be presented to the international donor community at a meeting tomorrow in the French Ministry of the Economy and Finance.

Mr. Kabbaj told the African Ministers that the goal of the Initiative was to extend access to safe drinking water supply and adequate sanitation to 80 percent of Africa's rural inhabitants by 2015. The success of the RWSSI, he emphasized, "will be dependent on African governments - at both national and local levels - and civil society organizations taking ownership and leadership of the Initiative."

The total cost of the program is estimated at US$ 14 billion, with 50 percent to be mobilized from donors, 30 percent from the resources of the ADB Group, and 20 percent from domestic resources. Mr. Kabbaj outlined the role of the Bank Group:

Coordination at the regional level to ensure the effective implementation of the program and the efficient use of resources;

Provision of technical assistance to regional member countries in the formulation of policy and in the implementation of the Initiative;

Mobilization of resources from bilateral and multilateral sources to ensure that the requisite level of financing is secured.

The ADB President pointed out that the RWSSI will promote the use of a range of simple technologies that are appropriate to the circumstances of rural Africa, and will rely on the effective participation of local communities. It will also emphasize the use of a program approach and fast track mechanisms for procurement and disbursement to ensure that the Initiative is completed within the set time frame.

The International Conference opening in Paris on Friday will seek to define a common framework for implementing the Initiative.

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