In December 2023, the European Investment Bank (EIB) awarded a $1.2 million grant to Tunisia's Office National de l'Assainissement (ONAS) for liquid wastewater treatment. The funds will be used primarily to finance the feasibility study for the new "coastal zone investment and capacity-building programme for Onas", which will shortly be launched in the North African country.
In 2024, the Tunisian government wants to strengthen the management of liquid sanitation. To this end, it plans to launch the “coastal zone investment and capacity-building programme for ONAS” through the Office national de l’assainissement (ONAS), which manages this sector. The initiative was unveiled on 20 December 2023, along with a grant of more than $1.2 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB). The partnership agreement was signed at Onas headquarters in Tunis by Abdelmajid Bettaieb, CEO of the Tunisian state-owned company, and Jean Luc Revéreault, Head of the EIB’s Regional Representation in Tunisia.
The funds allocated by the EIB will be used mainly to finance the feasibility study for the “coastal zone investment and capacity-building programme for ONAS”, the details of which ONAS is still keeping under wraps.
Improving the efficiency of eight wastewater treatment plants
What we do know, however, is that the public body intends to use part of the grant from the European financial institution to finance the rehabilitation of eight wastewater treatment plants in the North African country, with a view to improving sanitation services for the populations served.
The new sanitation programme also provides for the refinement of four wastewater transfer networks in Tunisia, as well as the completion of the construction of three marine drains. Under the agreement with the EIB, ONAS will also benefit from technical assistance in carrying out the work planned under the “Coastal Zone Investment and Capacity Building Programme for ONAS”, the sites of which have yet to be determined.
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In addition to the EIB, the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW) is also supporting wastewater management in Tunisia. On the same date, 20 December 2023, the German development agency also allocated a grant of €1.9 million to ONAS as technical assistance for the operation of wastewater treatment plants equipped to convert sewage sludge into biogas, in this country located on the Mediterranean coast and bordering the Sahara desert.
Inès Magoum
