SENEGAL – The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has granted US$1.5 million funding to West Africa Water SA and Delta SA for water and sanitation projects in Senegal.
The move is part of the agency’s West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub) initiative.
USAID collective US$1.5 million in co-investment grants will go towards two companies that are working to support Senegal’s water infrastructure.
The projects target to extend and improve the sewage network in Senegal for nearly 150,000 households and provide access to potable water at an affordable price to almost 80,000 new individuals by 2025.
West Africa Water SA, the Senegal-based subsidiary of Swiss Fresh Water SA will receive US$505,000 as part of the funding.
The company will leverage its investment to deploy its potable water-producing kiosks in 25 new locations in the Dakar region and improve the performance of 25 additional and existing kiosks in the Dakar, Thies, and Kaolack regions.
Each water treatment kiosk can produce up to 4,000 liters of clean, filtered water per day, enough to serve 78,905 people by 2023.
Delta SA, which specializes in sewerage and stormwater maintenance services in Senegal on the other hand will receive the remaining US$999,493 grant.
The grant will be used to expand and improve the wastewater collection system in Dakar and its suburbs, as well as in the regions of Rufisque, Thiès, Saint-Louis, Kaolack, Matam, Diourbel, and Tambacounda.
This sanitation work will benefit 148,475 households by 2024, which will change the current statistics in Senegal.
Delta SA will also provide direct employment opportunities for 120 people, 56 of whom will be women and/or young people.
“Approximately 413 jobs will be created and maintained, primarily for kiosk franchisees/operators, the majority of whom will be women and/or youth,” says USAID
The West African country has a sanitation access rate of “67.4% in urban areas and 42.3% in rural areas,” according to El Hadji Abdourahmane Ndione, the director-general of the Senegalese Association of Standards (ASN).
Many inhabitants suffer from illness and diseases related to the consumption of brackish, polluted, or infected water.
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