In an effort to support the water infrastructure of Senegal, the U.S. Agency for International Development’s regional initiative, the West Africa Trade & Investment Hub (Trade Hub). has awarded over $500,000 towards drinking water and nearly $1 million towards wastewater infrastructure for the West African nation.
The collective $1.5 million in co-investment grants will go towards two companies that are working to support Senegal’s water infrastructure.
Only 21 percent of the overall population in Senegal have access to safely managed sanitation, and those in the county’s poorest regions have significantly lower access rates to safe drinking water and sanitation. Many inhabitants suffer from illness and diseases related to the consumption of brackish, polluted, or infected water.
Two established companies, West Africa Water SA and Delta SA, will address this challenge with Trade Hub-funded projects that will extend and improve the sewage network in Senegal for nearly 150,000 households and provide access to potable water at an affordable price to almost 80,000 new individuals by 2025.
Drinking Water
Senegal-based West Africa Water SA, a subsidiary of Swiss Fresh Water SA, will build upon its goal of producing and commercializing safe and secured drinking water in Senegal with a $505,000 Trade Hub co-investment grant.
As one of the Trade Hub’s first co-investment partnerships in the water sector, the company will leverage its investment to deploy its potable water-producing kiosks in 25 new locations in the Dakar region and improve the performance of 25 additional and existing kiosks in Dakar, Thies, and Kaolack regions.
Each water treatment kiosk can produce up to 4,000 liters of clean, filtered water per day. Through greater distribution of these potable water kiosks through its operators, West Africa Water SA says that it will provide access to quality and affordable water to 78,905 individuals by 2023.
“Our business model opens numerous opportunities for the economic empowerment of youth and women,” says Amadou Gaye, West Africa Water’s Managing Director. “Through supporting them to operate their own Diam’O franchise kiosk, they are able to learn and leverage key business skills and earn a stable income while providing clean drinking water within their communities.”
“This co-investment will also serve as a catalyst for our continued growth, with the support of our existing shareholders as well as new private and public partners,” adds Thomas Gajan, Swiss Fresh Water’s CEO.
Wastewater
A second company, Delta SA, is the recipient of a $999,493 co-investment grant from the Trade Hub to improve existing sanitation facilities and increase access to improved sanitation services in the face of increasing liquid and solid waste discharges coming from industries and homes.
The company is a leader in sewer and rainwater network maintenance services in Senegal, and this project will extend and improve the sewage network in Dakar, its suburbs, and the regions of Rufisque, Thies, Saint-Louis, Kaolack, Matam, Diourbel, and Tambacounda, for up to 1,187,799 individuals (148,475 households) by April 2024. It will also create and sustain a total of 120 direct jobs, with 56 out of the 120 direct jobs dedicated to women and/or youth.
“Clean water and proper sanitation are critical needs throughout Senegal,” said Etienne Chia-ah, Public-Private Partnership Manager for the Trade Hub. “These projects will not only create jobs and preserve the environment, but also improve the health of Senegal’s residents.”
