AfDB grants $7m to Gambia for rural water, sanitation access

The African Development Bank (AfDB) says it has signed two grant agreements with the Gambian government totalling $7 million to improve access to clean drinking water and better sanitation.

The African Development Fund is providing $5 million and the remaining $2 million will be provided by the AfDB’s Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Initiative Trust Fund, according to an AfDB statement March 16, 2012.

An estimated 40,000 people in rural areas of the country are expected to benefit from the package and it will “cut hygiene-related deaths in those areas, particularly among children”.

The funds will be used to build and rehabilitate drinking water supply and sanitation facilities in rural areas of the Gambia, the Bank said.

By Ekow Quandzie