Within the framework of the Bank’s Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative (RWSSI), the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group has provided UA 51 million to help Madagascar in its efforts to attain the short-term objective of sustainably providing safe drinking water and sanitation services to rural communities in eight regions of the country.
The initiative seeks to to provide 1250 boreholes, including 1,000 equipped with pumps and 250 solar energy pumps. The launch of work on the 1,250 boreholes took place on July 31, 2008, in Sambava, the main city in the Sava region in the northern part of the country. The launch was presided over by the country’s Water Minister, Jean-Donné Rasolofoniaina.
The event was attended by other senior government, regional and local officials. The village of Ambia was chosen as the site for the first borehole within the framework of the programme. The Bank Group was represented at the event by the Madagascar Country Office Resident Representative, Sylvie Conde.