PROVIDING ACCESS TO WATER IN GUINEA
Despite Guinea’s abundant mineral resources, the country’s population is among the world’s poorest. Based on the most recent (2018) survey data estimates, 66.2 percent of the population is multidimensionally poor while an addi- tional 16.4 percent is classified as vulnerable to multidimen-
wells to extract groundwater, whereas water treatment plants for river water were built for Lélouma and Gaoual. Once installed, the water systems allowed the population’s average water consumption to roughly double to about 40 liters per capita per day.
sional poverty 33 , with rural areas expe- riencing higher levels of poverty than urban centers. At the time of project preparation, less than half of Guinea’s population had access to safe drinking water and only 16 percent to electricity.
After several delays in achieving loan effectiveness (2014) and awarding the construction contracts, civil works started in 2018, with the final works delivered in December 2022 and project completion declared in the second half of 2023. The project scope involved constructing a dam with reser-
To address these urgent needs, in 2012 the OPEC Fund approved a US$7 million
loan for a US$18.5 million project co-financed by BADEA and the government of Guinea, for providing safe drinking water systems to an additional five Guinean towns that were still lacking such access. These towns (Lola, Youmou, Gaoual, Lélouma and Tougué) are located in areas consid- ered among the poorest in Guinea. The approximately 63,000 people living in these towns had to walk between 1 and 3 km to fetch water, resulting in under-consumption and significant burdens typically borne by women and girls.
voir of approximately 2 million m 3 for the city of Lélouma, adding an additional six water reservoirs of about 500 m 3 capacity each, and installing two water treatment stations with a total treatment capacity of 2,000 m 3 /day for the cities of Lélouma and Gaoual. For the other three towns, the project scope included the drilling of 17 boreholes each with a flow rate of at least 8 m 3 /hour. Overall, more than 111 km of water pipes were laid, 155 public water foun- tains installed and 3,100 households directly connected. The installed water systems have a total water production capacity of 4,167 m 3 /day and have significantly improved the local population’s access to safe drinking water.
Based on hydrological studies, the project equipped the towns of Tougué, Lola and Youmou with boreholes and
DOUBLE The new water systems allowed the population’s average water consumption to roughly to about 40 liters per capita per day.
33 UNDP [report], 2018
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