Brussels, 21/01/2009 (Agence Europe) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the French Development Agency (AFD) signed two loan agreements with the Senegalese state on Monday 19 January. These loans, which amount to €20 million (CFA 13.1 billion) for the EIB and €30 million (CFA 19.7 billion) for the AFD, will finance the creation of a network for decontaminating Hann Bay. Today, a large part of the industry along the bay discards its polluted effluents directly into the sea, without pre-processing. In the same way, most of the domestic waste is rejected into the sea, unprocessed. This degradation and absence of any industrial or domestic treatment network are having a very serious impact not only at the economic and social levels (loss of revenue for the local population because of the fall in leisure activities and tourism as well as the diminishing quantity and quality of coastal fishing) but also with regard to health, with the development of infectious diseases among the local population. The aim of the project is therefore to decontaminate the waters of Hann Bay in a lasting way, allowing the marine life to be protected and the health of the rim populations (55,000) to be improved, with 95% of bacterial pollution being treated. In addition to these loans, the AFD also granted a €2.5 million subsidy for the project in 2008. It above all allows institutional support for the authorities to be financed in their negotiation with industrialists so that the latter bear part of the cost of decontamination (“polluter pays” principle). (O.L./transl.jl)