The Council of Ministers of Burkina Faso has authorised the ratification of recent loan agreements signed with the African Development Bank (AfDB) amounting to over €64 million. The financing is earmarked for the Pepa-mr drinking water and sanitation project and the Yeleen renewable energy power plant project in Burkina Faso.
In order to improve its supply of drinking water, sanitation and renewable energy, the country is committed to respecting the terms of the two loan agreements signed on February 21, 2020 between its Finance Minister and the African Development Bank (AfDB). The Council of Ministers, meeting on May 6, 2020 in Ouagadougou, approved the signing of these loan agreements, the total amount of which is over €64 million.
It concerns loan agreement No. 2100 1500 42246 to finance the Rural Drinking Water and Sanitation Project (Pepa-mr). With a total cost of about 15.2 million euros (close to 10 billion CFA francs), the project aims to improve the rate of access to drinking water for the populations of the Centre-West regions from 70% in 2018 to 84% in 2022. The project also aims to increase the rate of access to sanitation in the same region from 15% in 2018 to 70% in 2025 and in the Centre-South region from 10% in 2018 to 65% in 2025.
This project, entirely financed by the AfDB, is timely. Access to water and sanitation is lagging far behind in Burkina Faso. In 2015, the proportion of the rural population served by standpipes in this West African country was around 8.7%. While the proportion of the rural population served by a private connection (PB) was estimated at … 0.3 per cent.
The “Yeleen” project
The second financing agreement under the responsibility of the Ministry of Finance, to which the Council of Ministers has given its approval, concerns loan agreement No. 2000 2000 04652, financing the “Yeleen” Project, the objective of which is to increase and diversify the supply of electricity through the construction of four new solar photovoltaic power plants with a cumulative capacity of 52 megawatts (MW). This project, which covers the entire national territory, will be carried out between 2020 and 2024, enabling the reinforcement of the electricity network and the connection of 30,000 households.
The AfDB loan for the project amounts to about 48.82 million euros (about CFAF 32 billion), for a total cost of 140.38 million euros (about CFAF 92.08 billion). The “Yeleen” project is also supported by the European Union, the French Development Agency (AFD) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF).
Boris Ngounou
