The African Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed on 8th January a loan agreement with the Ministry of Development, Investment and International Cooperation (MDICI) and the National Office for Sanitation (ONAS) to finance the sanitation programme for small municipalities with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants.
Nearly 200,000 inhabitants of small municipalities in Tunisia will benefit from significant environmental improvements thanks to a 150 million euros loan granted to ONAS and co-financed equally by the two institutions.
This programme is aligned with the strategies of both institutions in the water and sanitation sector, and will include the construction of 24 new wastewater treatment plants, the expansion by 862 kilometers of sanitation network systems and the construction of 30 new pumping stations. It will promote better conditions of health, hygiene, environment and economic development for 33 small municipalities spread over 19 governorates.
This improvement will help alleviate environmental pollution and health risks linked to the current low level of sanitation services. It will also increase the amount of treated wastewater by 7.71 million m3 per year thus raising the availability of useable water in the area.
Incorporating a capacity-building component for the National Office for Sanitation (ONAS) and targeted communes, the programme will help Tunisia to sustain the management of its sanitation systems and support private sector participation in infrastructure. The programme will contribute to a new dynamic of development and investment, a source of employment for young people in priority regions.
The signing ceremony at MDICI headquarters was co-chaired by HE. Zied Laadhari, Minister of Development, Investment and International Cooperation, Mohamed El Azizi, Director General of the African Development Bank North Africa Office, Antoine Sallé de Chou, Head of the EBRD Office in Tunisia and Abdelmajid Bettaieb, President and CEO of ONAS.
About the Cooperation:
The result of close collaboration between the two institutions' teams, this programme reflects the desire of the two development banks to strengthen their cooperation in North Africa. An agreement on this programme has already been signed on 8 November 2018 at the Bank's Africa Investment Forum in Johannesburg, through which the EBRD is delegating project implementation to the African Development Bank.
The African Development Bank and the EBRD are identifying a portfolio of joint operations to be carried out in the region, particularly in the areas of agribusiness, financial inclusion of small and medium-sized enterprises, entrepreneurship and public-private partnerships.
As part of this partnership, the African Development Bank and the EBRD co-financed in 2015 Nador West Med Port Complex Project in Morocco for an amount of about 313 million euros.
Since the beginning of their operations in Tunisia, the African Development Bank and the EBRD have invested respectively $ 9.5 billion (since 1967) and $ 830 million (since 2012).
Contacts :
African Development Bank - Fahd Belbachir, Principal Communications Officer for North Africa: f.belbachir@afdb.org
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development - Nibal Zgheib, Communications Officer: zgheibn@ebrd.com
