Luanda - The Ministry of Finance, the World Bank and an international banking syndicate finalised a financing agreement for the Bita Water Supply Project, under the auspices of the Ministry of Energy and Water.
According to a press release sent to ANGOP Friday, the USD1.7 billion funding was approved by a Presidential Order (DP no 90/21 of June 11) and concluded on 24 and 26 June, 2021, respectively.
According to the document, for the granting of credit, a financing agreement was carried out with a guarantee from the World Bank via the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and a financing agreement covered by the French Export Credit Agency “Bpi France Assurance Export”, constituted by the banking syndicate led by Standard Chartered Bank.
In order to implement the financing agreement, the note reads, the teams of the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Energy and Water, EPAL and the legal consultancy carried out a long period of technical and legal work, in which all the negotiation stages and conditions precedent were met.
Bita Water Supply Project, to be implemented in the municipality of Belas, in Luanda, aims to benefit 2.5 million people, with the capture of water from the Kwanza River and the construction of a 1,600 mm pipeline with six kilometers of extension.
The World Bank has allocated these funds, from the IBRD, for resettlement expenses that will have a direct impact on the lives of the populations that will be impacted by the implementation of the Project.
This value is also intended to guarantee the acquisition of land, in accordance with World Bank safeguard standards.
Bita project is a strategic public investment for the construction of infrastructure for the treatment, supply and storage of drinking water that will allow the improvement and expansion of the water supply service in rapidly growing urban and peri-urban areas in the south of Luanda.
