UGANDA – The government of Uganda has received US$91.8 million in funding from the French Development Agency (AFD) and the European Union (EU). for the implementation of the Isingiro District Water Supply and Sanitation Project.

The French Development Agency (AFD) funding of US$83 million is divided into a loan of US$80.6 million and a technical assistance grant worth US$2.3 million.

The financing agreement was signed on September 20th, 2021, between the Ugandan Minister of Finance, Planning and Economic Development, Matia Kasaija and the French Ambassador to Uganda, Jules-Armand Aniambossou.

The National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) will implement the project in Insingiro District and the state-owned company will use the AFD loan to construct new water supply systems in 15 sub-counties and eight municipal councils.

“In Isingiro, southwestern Uganda, drinking water coverage is barely 43%, while the district hosts about 132,000 refugees in the two settlement areas,” AFD said.

In all, 340,000 of Isingiro’s 550,000 people, including the 132,000 refugees living in the Nakivale and Oruchinga camps, will have access to drinking water by the end of the project.

Support from the European Union

The sanitation component of the Isingiro project will provide new facilities in the Nakivale and Oruchinga areas and the European Union (EU) will finance this part of the project with a budget of US$8.8 million.

The objective is to improve health services throughout the district and the project will increase the rate of access to sanitation services in Uganda.

According to the World Bank’s 2020 report, less than 80% of the population has access to basic sanitation services.

A similar report by the World Bank shows that Africa is still far behind in all these areas.

In all countries south of the Sahara, for example, barely 28% of the population has access to basic sanitation facilities and 32% still practice open defecation and this faecal sludge ends up in the waterways, where these same populations get their water, leading to the spread of diseases such as neglected tropical diseases.

With the difficulties of accessing a safe source of water for sanitation, some African countries are focusing on more environmentally friendly solutions.

In Uganda, for example, the Professional Town Planning Association of East Africa (Pupaea) plans to install one million eco-friendly toilets in rural and suburban areas by 2030.

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