AfDB and Niger Sign Loan and Grant Agreements

The African Development Bank Group on Monday, November 17, 2008, in Tunis signed agreements for a loan and grant with Niger to finance the Kandadji Ecosystems Regeneration and the Niger Valley Development Programme (KERNVDP).

Estimated at UA 40 million, equivalent to US$ 62 million, the loan and grant will make it possible for the country find solutions to the recurrent drought it is facing and the degradation of natural resources by regenerating the riverine ecosystems and boosting agricultural production with poverty reduction as the ultimate goal.

AfDB Sectoral Operations Vice President Zeinab El-Bakri signed for the AfDB, while Niger’s Finance Minister, Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, signed for his country.

The project involves construction of a 1.6 billion cubic metre dam for regulating the flow of the Niger River in order to provide the water needed for irrigation and other essential uses (drinking water supply, sanitation, ecology, improved flood recession cropping, grazing and fishery) and electricity as a by-product that will make the structure as profitable as possible.  The project will restore the river valley ecosystems, irrigate 122,000 hectares and  produce  629 Gwh of electricity per year, on completion.