Corporate News
By ZEYNAB WANDATI, zwandati@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
- The dam is expected to ease a biting water deficit in Mombasa where the county only supplies 46,000 cubic meters to residents.
- This financing is part of a larger project under the Paris Pact Flagship Project that targets to build resilient water systems in cities.
- The World Bank has also pledged a further $2.2billion to the Lake Chad region, which is experiencing serious water stress.
Kenya has signed a Sh20 billion ($200 million)
financing agreement with the World Bank for the construction of a dam at
the ongoing climate talks in Paris.
The construction of Mwache dam in Kwale County is expected
to serve residents of the country's coastal city of Mombasa with 186,000
cubic meters of water a day. It will also supply residents of
neighbouring Kwale County.
Mombasa County Governor Hassan Joho, who signed the
deal along with Water and Irrigation Services Cabinet Secretary Eugene
Wamalwa, said the dam would ease a biting water deficit where the county
only supplies 46,000 cubic meters to residents.
The details of the financing such as payment period, and interest rates was however not disclosed.
“This dam will give us surplus water that we will distribute to other counties," Mr Joho said.
This financing is part of a larger project under
the Paris Pact Flagship Project that targets to build resilient water
systems in cities. Last July Kenya also took commercial loans totalling
Sh34 billion from Italian and French banks to finance the construction
of Itate dam.
The Paris talks have attracted a lot of
international partnerships such as the Lima Paris Action Agenda, which
is mobilising large-scale financing to protect the most vulnerable
people from the impact of climate change.
Other than the $200 million pledged by the World
Bank for Kenya, the financial institution has also pledged a further
$2.2billion to go towards conserving the Lake Chad basin which is
experiencing serious water stress.
The water body, which once stretched for 25,000 square kilometres, has shrunk to just 2,000 square kilometres today.
The French government-affiliated financial
institution Agence Française de Développement (AFD) has pledged €50
million to Senegal to go towards protecting at least 300,000 people from
the risk of flooding.
Countries currently impacted by El Niño have also
been big winners at the talks with the announcement that the European
Union will provide $125 million to support the affected in Africa, the
Caribbean and Latin America.
The funding is meant to bring life-saving emergency
assistance and bolster overall resilience in the affected states. It
will combine humanitarian and development assistance to address
immediate nutrition, sanitation, health and housing needs.
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