Saudi Arabia’s Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) CEO, Sultan bin Abdulrahman Al-Marshad, has signed a financial agreement with the Government of Mauritania for the first phase of a drinking water supply project in the town of Kiffa, 600km southeast of the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott.
The SFD will contribute to the project through the provision of $100 million as a soft development loan. The project, intended to secure the supply of drinking water for approximately 550,000 people, will see the construction of facilities for the transportation, treatment, storage and distribution of potable water to the town of Kiffa from the Senegal River and is expected to support water and food security while reducing the rates of disease that come as a result of polluted water.
In addition to the financial agreement, Al-Marshad inaugurated three development projects in the water, health and education sectors, which include the $25.3 million Nouakchott Water Distribution Network Project, the $10 million Dialysis Center Project and the $30 million New Campus Project.
“These projects will positively impact the social and economic development of our sister country, Mauritania,” Al-Marshad stated, adding that, “They provide the necessary support for basic services, promoting positive opportunities for Mauritanian people to meet their daily needs to improve their social and economic level.”
This investment comes in response by the SFD to Mauritania’s request in November 2021 for the mobilization of $317 million to fully implement the Kiffa drinking water supply system project as part of the regional cooperative body, The Senegal River Basin Development Organization’s proposed water sharing mechanism.
The initial loan agreement was signed in March this year between Al-Marshad and Mauritania’s Minister of Economic Affairs, H.E. Ousmane Mamoudou Kane, and Minister of Water and Sanitation, H.E. Mohamed El-Hassan Ould Boukhris.
The remaining $217 million is expected to be financed with the support of the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, the OPEC Fund for International Development and the Islamic Development Bank, with the development partners having already agreed upon a financial strategy.
