NIGERIA – The West African nations of Nigeria and Ivory Coast are currently ploughing in funds to finance water and sanitation projects in their communities.
In Nigeria, the International Development Association (IDA), a subsidiary of the World Bank, has granted the region’s most populous country, a US$700 million loan for implementation of its Sustainable Urban and Rural Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (Surwash) Programme.
The loan will finance access to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) for 6 million people, mainly in rural areas and small towns.
The World Bank funding includes US$300 million for the development of water, sanitation and hygiene infrastructure.
With the funding, the Federal Government of Nigeria plans to build and rehabilitate water points and drinking water systems for rural communities and small towns.
About 60 million Nigerians live without access to basic drinking water services, 80 million without access to improved sanitation facilities and 167 million without access to a basic hand-washing facility.
WORLD BANK
The Nigerian authorities are also planning to build small-scale faecal sludge disposal and/or treatment facilities.
With an estimated population of 201 million, the provision of clean water, sanitation and hygiene is a real challenge in Nigeria, and the country is lagging behind.
According to the World Bank, about 60 million Nigerians live without access to basic drinking water services, 80 million without access to improved sanitation facilities and 167 million without access to a basic handwashing facility.
In rural areas, 39% of households are without water services, while only half have access to improved sanitation facilities and almost a third (29%) still practice open defecation.
With the Surwash programme, the Nigerian government hopes to improve the situation and achieve the United Nations (UN) Development Goal 6 (SDG 6) of universal access to water and sanitation by 2030.
Meanwhile, French company Vergnet Hydro, a subsidiary of the Odial Solutions group, has won an €18 million (US$21.95m) contract to rehabilitate 1,000 boreholes in Ivory Coast.
Solar hybridisation, which is at the heart of this project, will enable the supply of drinking water to 600 000 people in the country.
Vergnet Hydro plans to carry out preliminary blowing, cleaning and verification work on each borehole.
Each installation will be equipped with a solar and a manual pump, as well as a 4 m3 tank, taps and related equipment (pipes, cables, etc.).
The solution provider, headed by Thierry Barbotte, has strengthened its activities in Ivory Coast in recent years.
In February 2020, Vergnet Hydro won the contract to build 17 drinking water supply systems in several regions of the West African country, including 12 electric and five mixed (solar/electric or solar/thermal) systems.
