EU funding to extend water and sanitation services

Malawi is to benefit from a US $336.2 million allocation to finance water projects under the African, Caribbean and Pacific countries-European Union (ACP-EU) Water Facility. Proposals have been invited for projects related to the improvement of water management and governance, water and sanitation infrastructure, and civil society initiatives for smaller-scale operations in urban and rural areas. The objective, said the EU, was to improve water resource management and expand access to safe, affordable, sustainable water and sanitation services. In April 2004 Malawi launched a strategic water plan for 2003/04, focusing on technical operations and information management, policy planning and drawing up a legal framework. A delegation from Brussels expressed satisfaction with the government's implementation of fiscal discipline after a visit two months ago to assess economic performance under President Bingu wa Mutharika, and promised to support the development programmes. The majority of people in Malawi, one of the world's poorest nations, do not have access to safe drinking water. Water Aid, a British NGO working in the country, estimates that sanitation coverage is around 77 percent of the population, while 57 percent have access to water. The $672.4 million Water Facility for ACP countries - the biggest EU allocation ever made for such projects - was launched earlier this year. The funds will drive progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for water and sanitation, as well as the targets set at the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg in 2002. The WSSD and MDGs call for halving the number of people without access to sustainable safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015.