AWF approves M29.8m water project

Staff Reporter

MASERU – The African Water Facility (AWF) has approved a grant of about €2 million (approximately M29.8 million) to support a multinational trans-boundary water project.
The grant aims to prepare a Climate Resilient Water Resources Investment Strategy and Multipurpose Project for the Orange-Senqu River Basin, serving the population of Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia and South Africa.

The main goal of the project is to promote sustainable socio-economic growth in the basin riparian countries through climate resilient water resources development in the framework of basin wide cooperation led by the Orange Senqu River Basin Commission (ORASECOM).
In a statement yesterday AWF said the project will foster enhanced sustainable water resources management of the basin, increased investments based on better planning allowing more multipurpose projects to address the livelihood needs of the communities living in rural and urban areas.

The Orange-Senqu River basin originates in the highlands of Lesotho and runs for over 2 300 kilometres to its mouth on the Atlantic Ocean in Namibia and South Africa.
The river system is one of the largest river basins in Africa and encompasses all of the Lesotho, a significant portion of South Africa, Botswana and Namibia.
“The basin poses complex water management challenges for safeguarding future water security,” the statement reads.
“The central theme of ensuring water security under increased hydrological variability compounded by climate change impact remains the key water resources management issue,” it says.
“The objectives of the project are to prepare an optimised water resources investment strategy and plan and select a priority transboundary project to be prepared at feasibility level.”
The statement says ensuring climate resilience will be key in planning and developing water infrastructure.
The project, amounting about €3.5 million including the AWF grant of about €2 million and US $1.2 million from the NEPAD-IPPF, also promotes ORASECOM’s capacity building and institutional development.

“There are multiple challenges related to deteriorating environmental conditions and increasing competitive uses of a scarce water resource in the Orange-Senqu River basin,” Jean Michel Ossete, AWF Acting Coordinator, said.
“Tackling poverty alleviation and environmental preservation requires an integrated management of the water resource and the development of climate resilient infrastructure,” she said.

“The AWF project promotes these approaches.”
The Orange-Senqu River basin is of major economic importance to South Africa and Lesotho as it contributes to respectively 26 percent and 100 percent of their GDP.
The beneficiaries of the AWF investment strategy project will be the 14 million people living in the riparian communities in the basin as well as five additional million inhabitants in South Africa located outside the basin but benefitting from its water resource through water transfer schemes.