The European Investment Bank (EIB) has teamed up with the EU’s external action service in a bid to provide clean water and adequate sanitation to citizens in the Zambian Copperbelt Province, bordering on the DRC.
The EU grant financing will help the Mulonga Water and Sewerage Company (MWSC) implement the “Mulonga Peri-Urban Water and Sanitation Action”. This initiative is part of the broader Zambia Water and Sanitation (ZWS) project for which in 2013 EIB already provided a EUR 75 million concessional loan for the rehabilitation and expansion of water and wastewater services of MWSC.
“The EIB’s longstanding support to water sector on the African continent holds a significant contributor to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, in particular in peri-urban, low-income areas. The ZWS project, including the EU financed sub-component, is all the more relevant in the Zambian context, at a time where the country has been suffering from the impact of climate change through prolonged drought and severe floods,” commented EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle. “The project can have a significant effect on Zambia’s development through its impact on health, reduced incidence of water-borne diseases, improved school attendance in the relevant target group, reduced child mortality and increased productivity of the relevant labor force. We believe that positive spill-overs can be expected to virtually all sectors of the economy and the environment.”
The overall project will ensure urgently needed improvement to MWSC’s water and sanitation services: most of the existing infrastructure is over 50 years old and is, therefore, struggling to meet growing demand.
Original source: EIB
Published on 17 May 2019
