Somalia Receives $24.45 Million Grant to Expand Urban Water Supply and Sanitation
The African Development Fund has approved a $24.45 million grant to improve access to clean water and sanitation in Somalia. The financing will support the Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Project in the towns of Dollow, Qardho, and South Galkayo.
According to the African Development Bank Group, the project is expected to benefit more than half a million people in these towns, where safe water remains scarce and climate-related shocks continue to increase pressure on already fragile water and sanitation systems.
The project is important because it combines water infrastructure, sanitation improvement, public health, and technical capacity building. It will support the expansion and rehabilitation of urban water and sanitation systems through transmission and distribution pipelines, boreholes, water treatment plants, and water quality testing laboratories.
The planned engineering works include about 40 km of transmission and distribution pipelines across the three towns. The project will also drill or rehabilitate 42 boreholes, construct four water treatment plants, and establish three water quality testing laboratories. These interventions are expected to improve water access, water safety, and the operational reliability of local water systems.
Sanitation is also a major part of the intervention. The project includes shared household latrines, mobile desludging units, and hygiene promotion activities. These measures are especially important in towns affected by population growth, displacement, and limited access to basic WASH services.
Dollow, Qardho, and South Galkayo host large numbers of internally displaced people, which places additional pressure on weak urban services. For this reason, the project is not only a construction program. It is also a resilience and public-health investment intended to strengthen local systems under difficult social and climatic conditions.
The project also includes capacity building for public institutions and local technical personnel. Training is expected to support water quality monitoring, groundwater monitoring, digital systems, water analysis, infrastructure maintenance, budgeting, coordination, and regulation. Youth from marginalised groups are also expected to receive technical skills related to pipeline installation, borehole drilling, reservoir rehabilitation, and water treatment plant construction.
For Somalia, this project represents a practical step toward safer water, improved sanitation, and stronger urban resilience. For the wider African water sector, it shows how modern WASH projects must combine engineering, public health, climate resilience, institutional capacity, and community-level skills development.
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Sources
Official references used for this article.
African Development Fund — African Development Fund approves $24.45 million grant bringing safe water and sanitation to Somali townsafdb.org
Open sourceAfrican Development Bank Group — Somalia: Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Project in Dollow, Qardho and South Galkayo — Project Appraisal Reportafdb.org
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