Burkina Faso through a Council of Ministers who recently met in Ouagadougou has approved the signing of loan agreements worth over US$ 70M earmarked for the Pepa-mr drinking water and sanitation project and the Yeleen renewable energy power plant project in the West African country.
The two loan agreements were signed on February 21, this year between the Moroccan Finance Minister and the African Development Bank (AfDB).
The Pepa-mr drinking water and sanitation project
Access to water and sanitation has been lagging far much behind in Burkina Faso. Five years ago, the proportion of the rural population served by standpipes was around 8.7%, while that served by a private connection (PB) was about 0.3%.
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The timely Pepa-mr drinking water and sanitation project aims to change the situation by improving the rate of access to drinking water for the populations of the Centre-West regions from about 70% to 84% by next year but one.
It also aims to increase the rate of access to sanitation in the Centre-West and the Centre-South regions from approximately 15% to at least 70% and from 10% to about 65% by 2025, respectively.
The entire project will cost a total of approximately 15.2 million euros to completion and it will be financed only by the AfDB.
The Yeleen renewable power project
Also supported by the European Union, the French Development Agency (AFD), and the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Yeleen renewable power project involves the construction of a total of four new solar photovoltaic power plants with a cumulative capacity of 52 megawatts (MW).
Its main objective is to increase and diversify the supply of electricity throughout the entire national territory and enabling the illumination of at least 30,000 households.
The project will be carried out between this year and the year 2024.
