DELEGATES to a major conference in Accra, Ghana, have recommended the setting up of a 10 billion dollar annual fund to develop water supplies and sanitation in Africa.
“A dedicated water fund for Africa should be established,” the some 220 delegates from 41 countries said in a declaration late on Wednesday following the three-day conference.
Only 60% of sub-Saharan Africa’s 680-million people have access to safe water, UN figures show.
The declaration said the goal of the fund would be to halve the number of Africans without access to clean water by 2015 and to reduce the total by 75% by 2025.
The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) — an African initiative that seeks a new financial relationship with the developed world and global business — “provides an important opportunity for this,” the statement said, arguing that local and private sector resources were inadequate.
“Financial flows will have to be dramatically increased through the appropriate mix of generic development aid, foreign direct investment and support to broad economic development in Africa,” the experts said.
The conference, organised by the Ghanaian and Dutch governments, brought together delegates from 41 countries including water experts, representatives of public and private companies involved in the sector as well as from civil society.
Six billion dollars would be required each year “to meet basic water supply and sanitation targets,” two billion for irrigated agriculture and another two billion for institutional development, capacity building, research, information management and education, the declaration states. – AFP