Prioritise water, sanitation project financing across Africa – Schlettwein

The capital requirements for Namibia to ensure secure bulk water supply up to the year 2037 countrywide stand at just above N$10 billion, with operational costs expected to increase at inflationary rates of between 5% and 6%.An additional investment of between N$17 billion and N$25 billion in the water sector over the next 10 years is required to satisfy this demand growth.Agriculture minister Calle Schlettwein said this at the 9th Water Week taking place in Cairo, Egypt.Schlettwein said, on average over the past 50 years, disasters related to weather, climate or water hazards have occurred daily, with damages estimated to exceed US$200 million (about N$3.5 billion) in losses globally.Additionally, the number of weather and climate-related disasters has increased fivefold over the 50-year period, driven by anthropogenic climate change, which is causing more extreme weather events.“Water resources are under increasing pressure due to demographic, economic, social, climatic changes and ever-growing global demand for energy, food and water.”Financing the water sectorThe minister made these remarks during the launch of the Africa Water Investment Platform for Continental Africa Water Investment Programme (AIP), to be financed at a cost of US$37 billion. Schlettwein said the programme is the outcome of an extensive consultative process and the first step in realising goals to bring financing to Africa’s water sector to sustainable levels.He emphasised that better water resource management requires strengthened transboundary cooperation, the application of water diplomacy tools, climate-proof security policies and improved water governance.To effectively address these challenges, stakeholders must develop new ideas and approaches at both regional and international levels, the minister added.In addition, decision-makers must consider the total value of water, enveloping all and often very complex interlinkages when deciding on developmental goals and priorities.“For Africa, there remains an investment gap of approximately US$30 billion per year to achieve water security and the realisation of the human right to water and sanitation," Schlettwein said. Water-wise planning In formulating the African Water Investment Action Plan, the African Union invited member states to submit priority projects that could form an AU-AIP project pipeline.The minister noted that in total 53 national projects from 19 countries were submitted, with a total value of almost US$30 billion.Schlettwein said an analysis of the proposals showed that few included smart water use concepts such as reclamation, desalination and other circular water use models. Similarly, regarding financing proposals, most projects requested conventional methods, primarily plain grants and loans.He stressed that African countries need to prioritise financing water and sanitation projects in their budget allocations.“We cannot go out to development partners seeking financial assistance while we ourselves are under budget for the developmental and operational costs for the water and sanitation sector.”

Prioritise water, sanitation project financing across Africa – Schlettwein

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-07

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Prioritise water, sanitation project financing across Africa – Schlettwein

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Namibian Sun 2025-03-07

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