UDUMA MALI undertakes to provide 11 municipalities with drinking water for 15 years

Launching of a sustainable drinking water service for 264,000 first recipients

Picture caption: Vincent de Paul SIDIBE, Mayor of Wassoulou-Balé and President of the Cercle de Yanfolila, shaking hands with Nicolaas VAN DER WILK, Operations Manager for UDUMA.

On Friday 9th November 2018 in Bougouni (Mali), UDUMA MALI S.A. entered into public service delegation contracts with the 11 municipalities (264,000 inhabitants) Danou, Debelin, Keleya, Kokele, Koumantou, Sido and Zantiébougou (Cercle de Bougouni), Sere Moussa Ani Samou, Yallankoro Soloba and Wassoulou Balé (Cercle de Yanfolila) and Kébila (Cercle de Kolondiéba) out of the 30 municipalities targeted in this project which aims at providing 560,000 rural people with drinking water in Sikasso region (Mali) for the 15 coming years. « The signing of these contracts is a milestone in this project. The last step before the rehabilitation of the water points and the start of the service », states enthusiastically Nicolaas VAN DER WILK, Operations Manager for UDUMA.

Creation of a business activity for nearly 1,500 people

Supported by the Malian MINISTRY FOR ENERGY AND WATER, the UDUMA Mali project brings together the Malian NATIONAL AGENCY FOR HYDRAULICS (DIRECTION NATIONALE DE L’HYDRAULIQUE), the Malian enterprise UDUMA MALI S.A. and the NGOs SNV MALI, AKVO and AQUA FOR ALL. The Malian local authorities will be entrusting the management and operation of 1,400 water points equipped with manual pumps to the newly created private operator UDUMA MALI S.A. The operator will guarantee a continuous water service (72-hour max downtime) for at least 15 years and renew a large part of the equipment.

In return, UDUMA MALI will be charging a fixed user fee per consumed volume (500 CFA francs/m3, 0.76 euro). The water pumps will be equipped with digital water meters. The water service is provided by a caretaker (1 on each pump) and a mechanic (1 per 50 pumps), whose remuneration evolves with water consumptions. The new water service delivery model is expected to create a business activity for nearly 1,500 people in the Sikasso Region.

UDUMA MALI injects 1.3-billion CFA francs (2-million euros)

The selection of the 11 first municipalities for start of operations in 2018, approved by the REGIONAL AGENCY FOR HYDRAULICS (DIRECTION REGIONALE DE L’HYDRAULIQUE) is based on cartographic analysis of the water points. “We led an on-site survey including the inventory of the water points and an assessment of the current payment and consumption methods in these 11 municipalities”, specifies Abdoul Hamid ABDOU, UDUMA Project Manager for the NGO SNV-MALI.

As a reminder, UDUMA MALI injects 1.3-billion CFA francs (2-million euros) private funds (equities, impacts investors, banks, etc.) in the project with a total budget of 3.3 billion CFA francs (5 million euros). The remaining 2 billion CFA francs (3 million euros) are provided through a subsidy from the Netherlands MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, of which 600 million CFA francs (1 million euros) are dedicated to public awareness raising (SNV-MALI), reporting (AQUA FOR ALL), mapping and monitoring (AKVO).