US $27 million loan for water project

The African Development Fund (ADF), a soft-loan arm of the African Development Bank (ADB), has approved US $27.78 million in loans and grants to finance a water supply and sanitation project in Harar, eastern Ethiopia.

The project includes boosting water production and distribution, as well as a public education campaign on water and health.

The effort is part of a four-and-a-half-year programme, starting in 2003, aimed at high-density low-income areas, an ADF statement said.

"The objective of the project is to provide better access to water supply and sanitation services to the population of Harar, Alemaya, Awudai, Adele and Dengego through improved water production, distribution and sanitation," the statement said.

The project will contribute towards poverty reduction and stimulating economic growth. "By providing water in quantity, reliability, accessibility, quality and affordable cost, the project will reduce the time spent to collect water as well as the incidence of water-borne and water-washed diseases and the cost of their treatment," the ADF said.

It would also stimulate prospects for economic development by attracting industrial and commercial activities to the area and by creating jobs, the statement added.

The total cost of the project is estimated at US $35.85 million. Since its engagement in Ethiopia in 1976, the African Development Bank has made $1.48 billion worth of credit available to the country.