For the first time, a foreign company will be helping a Yemeni water company with management. On 21 February 2006 a Dutch-Yemeni partnership agreement was signed to tackle the drinking water problems in Ta’iz, (population of 650,000), Yemen's third biggest city. Development minister Agnes van Ardenne and Jos van Winkelen, chair of the management board of Vitens water company, signed for the Netherlands. Signing for Yemen were Ahmed Abdallah Alhajari, the governor of Ta’iz, and Abdul Rahman Fadhl Al-Eryani, the Yemeni water and environment minister. The Yemeni government can use the experience it gains in this way to decide whether to contract drinking water services out to private parties, or to work towards more autonomous public water companies.

The partnership will cost a total of EUR 1,650,000, to which the Minister for Development Cooperation will contribute EUR 950,000 over three years. Vitens will provide a project team, with one member stationed in Ta’iz for three years. Apart from local manpower, the Yemeni government is investing EUR 200,000 in the partnership.

Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 21 Feb 2006

Tags: governance, urban wash