In Mauritania, the government will receive new financing for the implementation of the Kiffa Drinking Water Supply Project. The $40 million loan will be provided by the Opec Fund for International Development (OFID). The financing project was unveiled on 15 December 2022 by the intergovernmental development finance institution, based in Vienna, Austria.
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Ofid joins a host of development partners in the drinking water project, including the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED), the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD) and the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development (AFESD).
A project valued at 317 million dollars
According to OFID, its loan will be used to finance the construction of a new drinking water treatment plant. The plant will treat raw water pumped from the Senegal River through four new pumping stations. The drinking water will be stored in several tanks.
Also as part of the Kiffa Water Project, a 250 km water network will connect 90 villages and serve more than 20% of Mauritania’s population, or more than 550,000 people by 2035. In Mauritania, water shortages also accelerate the proliferation of water-borne diseases (cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid fever and polio, etc.). The aim is to minimise the risks associated with these diseases in the town of Kiffa and the surrounding localities.
All the work carried out under the project will cost US$ 317 million. The Kiffa water project will also create 3,000 jobs in the water sector.
Inès Magoum