Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene November - December 2016 vol.11 No.6 | Page 5

NEWS in brief

Around Africa

AfDB approves US $391 million for Kenya’s water and
sanitation project

$6.7m for Nile Basin Initiative projects

The Board of Directors of the African Development
Bank Group (AfDB) on November 9, 2016 approved US
$391 million to help finance a major water and sanitation
program in Kenya.

As population growth, rapid urbanization and demand
for agricultural land put pressure on Africa’s wetlands,
countries in the Nile basin are looking to joint restoration
and protection efforts for solutions.

The Kenya Towns Sustainable Water Supply and
Sanitation Program is designed to improve access, quality,
availability and sustainability of water supply in 19 towns
and wastewater management services in 17 towns across
the country.

The Nile Basin Initiative (NBI), an intergovernmental
partnership of 10 countries that form the Nile basin, says
the target will be on conserving and protecting wetlands
that are shared or those with a high ecological value.
Germany, through the Gesellschaft Für Internationale
Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), is funding the €6 million ($6.7
million) wetland protection project over a five-year period
in Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt,
Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania
and Uganda.

The program aims to catalyze commercial activities,
drive economic growth, improve quality of life of the
people and build resilience against climate variability and
change. These objectives would be achieved through
construction and rehabilitation of water supply and
sanitation infrastructure including expansion into informal
settlements; and capacity development of water service
providers, sector regulators, and women and youth.
It will provide more than 2.1 million people with reliable
and sustainable water supply services and more than 1.3
million people with water-borne sewerage systems. In
addition, the program will create more than 15,000 new
jobs during and after its implementation.
It would further boost Kenya’s rapid urbanization, which
drives GDP growth, economic transformation, increases
in productivity and incomes, and employment creation. It
is projected that more than half of Kenya’s population will
be living in cities and towns by 2030.
The program fits with the Kenya’s Vision 2030 and its
five-year Mid-Term Plan II (MTP-II), whose realization is
heavily dependent on adequate and sustainable provision
of water supply and sanitation services. The MTPII prioritizes the water sector investments including
expansion of water supply and sanitation in towns. The
program also resonates with three of the five priority areas
the Bank’s High-5s to advance Africa’s transformative
agenda: Feed Africa, Industrialize Africa, and Improve the
quality of life for the people of Africa.
Finally, it complements the Bank’s interventions in
towns and cities in support of the Government’s efforts
as it tackles the next generation of urban development
challenges and reforms in the sector.
The program, to be implemented in 54 months, is
estimated to cost US $451.66 million. The Bank’s loans
and grants will cover 86.52% of the total program costs.
The Government of Kenya will contribute US $60.87
million in counterpart funding.

“The plan is to ensure that these wetlands and the resources
in them are sustainably utilized and managed,” said Paul
Mafabi, the director for environmental affairs at Uganda’s
Ministry of Water and Environment.
Wetlands listed for protection and restoration under the
initiative include the Sudd in South Sudan, which is one
of the largest tropical wetlands in Africa, the Sio-Siteko
wetland shared by Uganda and Kenya and the Kagera
wetland, shared by Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and
Tanzania.
Leonard Akwany, a regional wetlands expert at NBI, said
as part of the joint conservation plan, communities in
the different countries will be sensitised to the value and
sustainable use of wetlands and their resources.
Mr Akwany said over the years, most development
projects in the Nile Basin have focused on water resources
management, with little attention paid to other natural
resources that are beneficial to the people, including
wetlands.
According to the International Water Management
Institute (IWMI), Africa’s wetlands ecosystem is estimated
to cover an area of 131 million hectares.
“At least 66 per cent of these wetlands are being used for
agriculture,” said Dr Amare Haileselassie, a water expert
with IWMI. These include coastal lagoons, ponds, riverine
wetlands, floodplains, swamps and marshes.
Wetlands are considered crucial to the ecosystem because
they provide essential habitats for animals and plants.
The Lake Victoria Basin, for example, is considered an
important bird area with over 300 species. It is also a
source of food like fish and provides water for domestic
use for the people who live around it.
Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • November - December 2016

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