Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene November 2018 Vol.13 No.5 | Page 5

NEWS in brief
Liberia
Italian Investors Express Interests in Liberia’s Waste
Management Sector
Monrovia — The Liberian
Government is expected
on October 23, to receive
a high power investment
delegation from Italy.
While in Liberia, the
delegation will study the
President George Weah
possibility of investing in
areas of waste disposal, water purification, rice production
and infrastructure development.
While in Liberia, the Italian investors will hold meeting
with President George Weah and other members of his
Cabinet.
Members of the delegation are expected to include
Giovanni CodURI, Antonio LONGHI representing
EUROGEO Wells, Umberto CUCCHETTI, representing
Dimesion Ambiente, involved with waste management.
Other delegation members are Dario ZUCCHI and
Barbara Falomo, representing the Italian water purification
company “PSC-Water purification,” while Piemario
Carazzo, will represent Agro Ital LTD-Rice Production.
According to a dispatch from the Liberia Embassy in
Brussels, Belgium, the visit of the 12+member Italian
delegation is as a result of President Weah’s visit to
Brussels, from the 4th to the 6th of June 2018, during
which Liberia’s President held some bilateral discussions
with European leaders, Tijami, EU Parliament, Tusk, EU
council and Juncker, EU Commissioner.
According to the dispatch, the aim of the visit to Liberia
is to strengthen bi-lateral relations with Italy through
trade, exchange of knowledge, and provide win-win
opportunities for production in the country economy.
During President Weah’s visit to Brussels, he indicated that
Liberia is open for visit and encourage Italian and other
European companies that were present in Liberia prior to
the Liberia’s civil war to come back and invest.
President Weah further emphasized manufacturing, trade
and small and medium enterprises as other instruments
in developing the country by creating employment and
raising per capita income and saving for investment into
other areas.
Around Africa
Malawi
Afdb approves US$ 15 million grant for Nkhata Bay
Town Water Supply and Sanitation Project
The
African
Development
Bank Group has
approved a US$15
million
grant
from the African
Development
Fund (ADF) for a
Nkhata Bay
water supply and
sanitation project in Malawi, expected to provide jobs and
boost the livelihoods of nearly 300,000 people.
The Nkhata Bay Town Water Supply Project will improve
access to potable and sustainable water supply and
sanitation services, directly benefitting 60,000 residents of
Nkhata Bay and its surrounding areas, as well as 220,000
others who depend on services offered by the town. The
project is also expected to create more than 300 jobs
during its construction phase and 50 additional jobs during
its operation.
Nkhata Bay, a fast growing port town on Lake Malawi, is a
main link on the Mtwara development corridor, connecting
Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia. It is also gaining popularity
as a tourist destination and will benefit greatly from the
project, which will kick off in January 2019 and would be
completed at the end of 2022.
Board approval for the project was granted on October
22, 2018.
About half the estimated project cost of US$30.4 million,
will come from the ADF grant, while a US$12 million loan
from OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID)
to be administered by the Bank, and US$3.4 million from
the Government of Malawi, in counterpart contribution,
make up the rest.
New infrastructure water treatment plants, pipelines and
water reservoirs to be built as part of the project is expected
to increase Nkhata Bay residents’ access to potable water
from 37% to 90% and access to sanitation facilities from
45% to 85%.
The project has enhanced social accountability and
partnership between the town and the government due
to the inclusion of Nkhata Bay Town residents and
surrounding areas in consultations during the design of
the project, an exercise that will continue throughout the
project’s implementation.
Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene • November 2018
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