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UK donates 75mln pounds to assist efforts of extending potable water services |
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Addis Ababa, November 23, 2007
(WIC) - The United Kingdom said it will give 75 million pound sterling to assist Ethiopia's efforts to extend potable water services to all states, the Ministry of Water Resources disclosed.
During a ceremony held to announce the support, Britain's Minister for International Development, Shriti Vadera, said UK will start providing the financial support starting this month and will be fully disbursed within five years.
Minister of Water Resources Development Asfaw Dingamo said on his part the financial support will speed up the country's endeavor to meet the Millennium Development Goals by producing healthy and productive citizens for the country. He added that extensive works are underway to improve the country’s water coverage from the current 53 percent. Efforts are also underway to alleviate the shortage of drinking water at woreda level by building small scale water facilities and the support will have significant role in speeding up the construction of the institutions.
Vadera further congratulated Ethiopia on the economic progress it made and noted that its commitment to reduce poverty is encouraging.
''Over 38 million Ethiopians lack access to a safe and reliable water supply,'' she recalled, and added that by making clean and safe water available through the provision of cheap technologies and educating people about basic sanitation, thousands of lives will be saved and more girls will be able to go to school as they will no longer spend hours to fetch water.
Out of the 75 million pound sterling which the UK will provide,70 million will be channeled to technical support and capacity building activities by World Bank and five million to UNICEF, she indicated. |
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