Tunis — The African Development Bank (AfDB) Group on Wednesday, 30 July 2008, in Tunis, signed a loan and grant agreements of 32 million Units of Account (UA*), equivalent to US$ 52 million (CFAF 22 billion) to finance a drinking water supply and sanitation project in Gao, Koulikoro and Segou regions of the country.
The Agreements were signed on behalf of the Bank Group's Operations, Infrastructure, Private Sector and Regional Integration Vice-President, by Division Manager Ali Kies and Mali's Ambassador to Tunisia, M'Barakou Arafa Askia Toure.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Kies noted that the signing of the agreements made the Republic of Mali the first country to benefit twice from funding under the framework of the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative.
He emphasized that the success of the program would largely depend on the commitment of the Malian government and the participation of local communities and the beneficiary population.
"It would equally require close coordination among various donors" involved, he said, adding that "the Bank Group would, for its part, continue to play an important role in strengthening synergies among development partners in the sector".
For his part, Ambassador M'Barakou Arafa Askia Toure, commended the Bank Group for the support and reiterated the Malian government's determination to ensure proper implementation of the program "as a guarantee to the continued reinforcement of our cooperation.
The objective of the project is to improve drinking water supply and sanitation services in the target areas. This would help increase the average access rate to drinking water from 49% to 56% by 2012 for the target population; and the average access rate to sanitation from 5% to 7%. In this way, the project will contribute to the improvement of the socioeconomic and health conditions of Malians.
The project's overall cost is estimated at UA 36.39 million (CFAF 25 billion). The ADF will finance 60.45% of the total project cost) while the grant from the Africa Water Facility (AWF) Trust Fund will meet 27.49% of the costs. The Malian government and the beneficiary population will contribute UA 3.89 million (FCFA 2.7 billion) accounting for 10.69% and UA 0.5 million (CFAF 343 million) or 1.37% of the total costs, respectively.
The Bank Group commenced operations in Mali in 1970. To date, the Group's cumulative commitment in the country stands at US$ 1.09 billion (CFA.F 461 billion) in 93 operations.
