SUSTAINABLE WATER SUPPLY GREATER BANJUL GAMBIA

The Water Supply Project in the Greater Banjul Area (WASIB) will finance critical infrastructure to provide safely managed drinking water services in the Greater Banjul Area, The Gambia. WASIB addresses several challenges in the area, including ageing water supply facilities, high levels of non-revenue water, intermittent water supply, and depleting groundwater resources. The project covers both drilling and emergency works necessary to maintain and improve service continuity for about 560,000 people (approximately 25% of the country's population). It also includes water production and treatment, as well as water transmission, storage, and distribution for approximately 300,000 additional new beneficiaries.

The aim is to support the Gambian water utility (NAWEC) in strengthening its capacity to operate and maintain water supply systems, with the goal of improving drinking water services in the Greater Banjul Area.

The project aims at increasing the availability and accessibility of safely managed drinking water services to target communities in the Greater Banjul Area (GBA) in The Gambia. By following an integrated approach, it includes the construction of new boreholes for water production, investments in water treatment, water transmission, water storage, and water distribution. The Project is in line with the Bank's Water Resilience Program and will contribute to the Bank's public policy goal "Sustainable Energy and Natural Resources (water, wastewater and flood protection). It will contribute to climate action through investments that aim at increasing the water and energy efficiency of the water supply system while increasing the resilience of the water systems to more climate change risks such as extreme weather events.

The project is in line the with The Gambia National Development Plan 2023-2027 as well as Priority 3 of the Multi-Annual Indicative Programme for The Gambia, "Human Development", as improving water and sanitation services directly support the country's broader human development goals by fostering a healthier population and sustainable urban growth. The projects also aligns with the EU's Global Gateway Strategy (Green transition / Biodiversity), aiming to ensure water security and improve livelihoods by 2030. The Project will contribute to mitigating market failures in the water supply sector by financing infrastructure which results in positive externalities in the form of avoided public health costs, environmental benefits from protection of surface water abstraction areas, and the benefits of enabling socio-economic development in the areas served by these infrastructures, including society-wide benefits from being better able to mitigate and adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change.

EIB loan offers extended tenor and grace period, and is blended with an investment grant from ACP TF/MS Compartment, thus offering favourable and highly concessional financing conditions to the borrower, the Republic of The Gambia.

The project will have a positive impact through: (i) increased access to safely managed drinking water services for the local population; (ii) reduction of greenhouse gas emissions through energy savings due to optimized, state-of-the-art water exploitation and water treatment processes; (iii) adaptation to climate change impacts by using a sustainable and more resilient water source in an area that is heavily impacted by climate change; and (iv) improved public health. In line with the EIB's Environmental & Social Standard (paragraph 7), the project components that are likely to have significant environmental, climate and/or social impacts shall be subject to an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and/or Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) process.

The promoter will be required to implement the project in accordance with the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) procurement rules and procedures, and in compliance with the requirements and standards agreed between EIB and AFD for projects outside the EU under the Mutual Reliance Initiative (MRI), as foreseen in the EIB's Guide to Procurement. In particular, calls for international tenders will be published in the Official Journal of the EU and/or on the EIB's website in accordance with the EIB's Guide to Procurement.

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