AAAP in the Media
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Freetown WASH and Aquatic Environment Revamping Program
Water and sanitation coverage in Sierra Leone is estimated at 58% and 13% respectively of the country’s 7 million inhabitants. Urban water supply coverage is estimated at 74% and urban sanitation coverage at 23%. The densely populated capital city, Freetown, is part of the urban WASH sub-sector. The poor water and sanitation services in the city exacerbate the negative effects of the dense settlement. Women and children bear the overwhelming burden of collecting water in water-starved communities in the city.
The city has less than 4 km of sewers, which discharge directly into the seas without any form of treatment. The poor water and situation is further aggravated by the intense encroachment into and widespread degradation of the Western Area Protected Forest, which forms the watershed and the only water lifeline for the capital city.
The Bank has been actively engaged in the water sector in Sierra Leone for over a decade and has accumulated significant experience in the environment.
The overall objective of the Freetown WASH and Aquatic Environment Revamping Program is to improve water supply and sanitation services while ensuring the sustainability of the vital aquatic ecosystem in the Western Area/Freetown.
Specific actions/objectives are:
- Water Supply Infrastructure Improvement
- Integrated Infrastructure Improvement
- Capacity for IWRM and Livelihood Improvement
- Project Management
The project aims to achieve a 15% increase in access to safe water supply and a 7% increase in access to improved sanitation in Freetown.
- GCA specialised technical expertise in the area of climate resilient water resource management, catchment protection, and NBS.
- GCA to prepare a detailed term sheet and financial model how the financial structure is financially viable (risk return) in order to achieve the proposal’s objectives, determining the level of concessionally, and demonstrating the coherence between the selected financial instruments, proposed activities and overall project financial structure.
- Rehabilitated and expanded water treatment, transmission, storage and distribution systems.
- Improved solid and liquid waste collection, treatment and disposal services.
- Established infrastructure and enhanced capacity for the effective protection of the Western Area Protected Forest/Watershed.
- Promotion good sanitation, hygiene and child nutrition practices of the primary beneficiaries while facilitating their gainful participation in the improvement of WASH services.
- The project will directly benefit an estimated 1,400,000 people (51% women) benefitted through access to safe water, including new access for 1,000,000 people and restoration of a regular daily water service for 400,000 people.
- Over 2,700 jobs created.
- The Freetown peninsular watershed restored, and impact of the extreme climate events to living conditions reduced.
US$164 million.
US$43 million requested from GCF
African Development Bank Group approves $379.6 million Desert to Power financing facility for the G5 Sahel countries
The Board of Directors of the African Development Bank Group has approved the Desert to Power G5 Sahel Financing Facility, covering Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger. The Bank envisages to commit up to $379.6 million in financing and technical assistance for the facility over the next seven years.
The Desert to Power G5 Financing Facility aims to assist the G5 Sahel countries to adopt a low-emission power generation pathway by making use of the region’s abundant solar potential. The facility will focus on utility-scale solar generation through independent power producers and energy storage solutions. These investments will be backed by a technical assistance component to enhance implementation capacity, strengthen the enabling environment for private sector investments, and ensure gender and climate mainstreaming.
The facility is expected to result in 500 MW of additional solar generation capacity and facilitate electricity access to some 695,000 households. Over the lifespan of the project, it is expected to reduce carbon emissions by over 14.4 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.
The Board of the Green Climate Fund approved $150 million in concessional resources in October 2021 for the facility, which is expected to leverage around $437 million in additional financing from other development finance institutions, commercial banks and private sector developers. The Global Center on Adaptation is providing technical assistance to strengthen adaptation and resilience measures undertaken in the facility as part of the Africa Adaptation Acceleration Program in partnership with the African Development Bank.
The African Development Bank’s Vice President for Power, Energy, Climate Change and Green Growth, Dr. Kevin Kariuki said: “The innovative blended finance approach of the Desert to Power G5 Sahel Facility will de-risk, and therefore catalyze, private sector investment in solar power generation in the region. This will lead to transformational energy generation and bridge the energy access deficit in some of Africa’s most fragile countries.”
Dr. Daniel Schroth, the Bank’s Acting Director for Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency, added: “The facility will also support the integration of larger shares of variable renewables in the region’s power systems, notably through the deployment of innovative battery storage solutions and grid investments.”
The facility will be implemented as part of the broader Desert to Power initiative, a flagship program led by the African Development Bank. The objective is to light up and power the Sahel region by adding 10 GW of solar generation capacity and providing electricity to around 250 million people in the 11 Sahelian countries by 2030.
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