Donors announced in March that they will invest US$ 1.2 billion (EUR 760 million) into Burkina Faso’s water sector, to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of halving the number of people in the world who lack access to safe drinking water by 2015.

“Finally the international community is realising that any development initiatives introduced in Burkina Faso must include investments in water, otherwise the MDGs will be doomed to failure” says Yerefolo Malle of the non-governmental organization WaterAid.

The new funds, which mostly come from the African Development Bank, World Bank and bilateral donors, will be used to boost access to sanitation for more than half of the country’s 14 million people and increase access to clean water for 4.2 million, or 30 per cent of the population.

The government said it will use the funds to install 617,000 new toilets around the country, build 520 new pipe networks in rural areas, fit water taps in over 100,000 homes and install thousands of water-pumps.

Contact: WaterAid Burkina Faso, waidbf@wateraidbf.org, http://www.wateraid.org/burkina_faso/

Source: IRIN News, 28 Mar 2008