On Friday 27 May 2016, a ceremony was held for the official start-up of work for the "Production" component of the city of Bamako's project for supplying drinking water from the Kabala district, commonly referred to as the "Kabala project". This component is being co-financed by the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union and France via Agence Française de Développement (AFD).

The ceremony, which took place on the site of the future water treatment station at Kabala, was presided over by Minister of Energy and Water Mamadou Frankaly Keita. The lenders were represented by French Ambassador to Mali Gilles Huberson, Head of Cooperation of the European Union Delegation to Mali Cécile Tassin-Pelzer, Head of the EIB's West Africa Regional Office in Dakar Isabelle Van Grunderbeeck and AFD Director in Bamako Bruno Deprince.

With a total cost of around EUR 106m or CFAF 69.4bn, the "Production" component of the Kabala project includes the construction of:

  • a water treatment plant with a capacity of 288 000 m3/day (contract awarded to the DEGREMONT/OTV/AI PROJECT/SOGEA-SATOM consortium of companies);
  • a water intake in the Niger river (contract awarded to the company SOGEA-SATOM); and
  • a pipeline for the delivery of treated water (contract awarded to the SOGEA-SATOM/DENYS consortium of companies).

With Société Malienne de Patrimoine de l’Eau Potable (SOMAPEP) as the contracting authority, the work will be carried out over a total period of 30 months.

The project manager for the three work contracts is the MERLIN/CIRA consortium of consultancy firms.