On the sidelines of the European Development Days, Dr Boubou Cissé, Minister of the Economy and Finance of the Republic of Mali, and Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank (EIB), signed a EUR 50 million agreement to finance development of the drinking water supply and sanitation network of the city of Bamako. This loan will support the Water and Sanitation Programme implemented by the Malian authorities, which is fully in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

This is a priority project for the city of Bamako, which is faced with rampant urbanisation and ever increasing water access needs. It will provide the Malian capital and its surroundings with both an adequate drinking water supply and a high quality sustainable sanitation system, with the aim of meeting the people’s urgent drinking water access needs and improving their daily living conditions.

Numerous large-scale works are planned for the network. Under the drinking water component, capacity will be doubled from 144 000 to 288 000 m³/day, and 25 000 m³ of new reservoirs, 30 km of water mains and 545 km of distribution network, comprising 34 000 connections and 600 standpipes, will be built and brought into service by 2021.

Overall, 2.5 million people will eventually benefit from the new sanitation system, and 560 000 of them will have access to drinking water in the very near future.

“’He who brings you water, brings you life’ is a Malian saying. On 16 April this year, in the Council of Ministers, the President of the Republic, His Excellency Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, urged the Prime Minister and his government to implement without delay the Presidential Social Emergency programme for the period 2017-2020. Alongside education, energy, health and rural roads, pillar 3 of the programme focuses on access to drinking water, which has become a national priority. The project will therefore support Mali in its efforts to achieve MDG 6 by 2030” said Mali’s Minister of the Economy and Finance, Dr Boubou Cissé.

“This is a major project that will have a strong impact on improving the daily lives of the people of Bamako and its surroundings” Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle stressed during the signing ceremony. Thanks to this EU financing, the city of Bamako and its surroundings will be provided with a high quality drinking water supply and sanitation service. The new facilities will meet the people’s drinking water needs while increasing production capacity, improving sanitary conditions and protecting water resources from pollution. We are delighted to be financing this sustainable development project, which forms part of our priority action in support of Mali.

The EIB also financed Bamako’s drinking water master plan. This project is being cofinanced by the AFD, IDB, WADB and AfDB, which has concentrated on financing the Bamako Sanitation Project.

As a key partner of Africa under the Cotonou Agreements, the EU bank has current exposure of EUR 21.5 billion to projects financed on the continent, including EUR 7.8 billion in sub-Saharan Africa.