Rwanda: AfDB Commits $101 Million to Sustainable Water and Sanitation Reforms

The Board of Directors of the African Development Fund has approved a ten-hundred-and-one-million-dollar loan to finance the Rwanda Sustainable and Resilient Water and Sanitation Programme, a policy-based initiative designed to assist Rwanda’s water and sanitation sector.

The objective of the programme is to enhance water and sanitation governance as well as access to basic water supply and sanitation services. It will also strengthen the legal, policy, institutional, and regulatory frameworks for providing water and sanitation services.

“More than 13,2 million Rwandans will benefit from this programme, which will improve and sustain their access to secure water and sanitation services. At the Board meeting, Osward Chanda, the Bank’s Director for Water Development and Sanitation, stated that the initiative will also support the administration of water resources, policy reform, and improved governance in the sector.

The Rwanda Sustainable and Resilient Water and Sanitation Programme will be implemented by Rwanda’s Ministries of Finance and Economic Planning, Infrastructure and Environment, Water and Sanitation Corporation Limited, Rwanda Water Resources Board, and Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority from this year until 2026.

The Rwanda Sustainable and Resilient Water and Sanitation Programme is the most recent infrastructure initiative supported by the World Bank through its Water Development and Sanitation Department. According to its Vision 2050, the Bank intends to accelerate Rwanda’s long-term development goal of becoming a middle-income economy by 2035.

The programme is also consistent with the Bank’s 2022-2026 Country Strategy for Rwanda and the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy (2013-2022, extended to June 2023) for inclusive growth and a gradual transition to green growth. It will contribute to three of the Bank’s priority areas, also known as the High 5s: Improving the Quality of Life for Africans, Feeding Africa, and Industrialising Africa.