Sustainable cities and territories #27. Our series in partnership with the Africa-France 2020 Summit.
Improving the drinking water supply in the district of Abidjan is the ambition of the project to improve the technical and financial performance of the drinking water sector (APTF). The project has recently been presented to the mayors of the 13 communes of the autonomous district of Abidjan by the Ivorian Minister of Hydraulics Laurent Tchagba.
To implement the APTF project, the Ivorian government is proposing a package of 282 billion CFA francs (almost 430 million euros). The project will be carried out in two phases. Known as the “emergency phase”, the first part of the project, which begins at the end of March 2020, should be completed in 2021. Minister Laurent Tchagba estimates that by September 2019 this phase of the project should be 70% complete.
Strengthening the drinking water distribution network
“A diagnosis was made and a note was presented to the Prime Minister, who was very sensitive to it. A report was submitted to the appreciation of the President of the Republic who gave his approval for an emergency programme to be carried out in the district of Abidjan to provide water in the 155 sub-districts spread over the 13 communes of the district of Abidjan and even beyond, since we will go to Grand-Bassam and Bonoua,” explains minister Laurent Tchagba. Completion of Phase I of the APTF project will require 47 billion CFA francs (€71.6 million).
The second part of the project will start immediately after the end of the first. With a planned investment of CFAF 182 billion (€277.4 million), it will enable the laying of 800 km of distribution network in the 13 communes of the autonomous district of Abidjan. The works will be carried out by the water distribution company (Sodeci), the public service company owned by the Ivorian government and the French group Bouygues.
This phase of the project is scheduled for completion in 2023, bringing an additional 30,000 m³ of water to the network of the autonomous district of Abidjan. The APTF project should thus provide drinking water to 2.7 million people in Côte d’Ivoire.
Jean Marie Takouleu