Brussels, 27/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) signed two financing agreements on 26 November with Société Nationale des Eaux du Sénégal (SONES) in support of Senegal's National Drinking Water and Sewerage Programme for the Millennium (PEPAM).
A European Development Fund (EDF) subsidy of CFAF 5.7bn (€8.6m) and an EIB loan of CFAF 9.8bn (€15 m) complete the financing of SONES's total investment programme of CFAF 38bn (€58m). The other financial contributions are coming from Agence française de Développement (AFD), the West African Development Bank (BOAD) and SONES itself, the programme's contracting authority. Under the financed project, more than 60 urban centres, including the capital city Dakar, will benefit from schemes to rehabilitate, upgrade and extend the drinking water supply network. In addition to substantially improving the system (especially by reducing losses), the programme is designed to provide more than 500 000 people with better quality water, mainly through subsidised connections, but also through standpipes. The programme, which is scheduled to be implemented over four years, aims to provide 98% of Dakar's population and 90% of the inhabitants of the inland centres with access to better quality water by 2011. The planned works comprise the creation of 25 new boreholes, the construction of a water treatment plant, the extension of the supply network by more than 500 km and the installation of 50 000 subsidised connections and 360 standpipes.
The four finance providers involved (AFD, the EIB, BOAD and the European Commission) have undertaken to harmonise their procedures to facilitate the implementation of this important project. This is an innovative approach in Senegal and meets the commitments made under the Paris Declaration on the harmonisation of development aid. The financing provided by the European Commission and the EIB is in line with their cooperation strategies aimed at contributing significantly to poverty reduction and achieving the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Senegal. (O.L.)