Drinking water for more than three million people in rural areas. This is the good news that the World Bank is bringing to the Republic of Benin by disbursing on Friday¹ July a sum of 250 million dollars, or 156.87 billion CFA francs from the International Development Association (IDA).

The World Bank has approved additional funding to enable Benin to continue its extensive water access program for rural residents. This support will increase access to water supply service through household connections and standpipes, and provide quality water service by professionals.

With this additional funding, 80 new multi-village rural water supply systems will be constructed to complement the 126 currently under construction. This new performance-based operation (PforR) consolidates the universal access to safe drinking water in rural areas program called "AQUA-VIE". The AQUA-VIE program will eventually cover the drinking water needs of more than 3 million people in rural areas.

Atou Seck, World Bank Operations Manager for Benin, explains that the AQUA-VIE program has enabled Benin to make significant progress in providing rural populations with access to drinking water. This additional funding will scale up the achievements underway to reach the goal of universal access to drinking water.