PROGRAMME EAU SENEGAL

Financing of the first phase of the Drinking Water and Sewerage Programme for the Millennium (PEPAM), aimed at improving the provision of drinking water for urban dwellers in the inland part of the country and in the suburbs of Dakar.

PEPAM follows on from the PSE (Water Sector Project) and PELT (Long-Term Water Project), both of which the Bank helped to finance. It aims to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals for 2015. The objectives of the first phase of PEPAM 2006-2011 are to increase the rate of domestic drinking water connections, improve the quality of the water supply, bolster the policy of subsidised connections and strengthen the institutional reform of the public health engineering programme embarked upon in 1996.

The previous projects supported by a large number of international lenders have enabled the promoter to establish procedures for assessing the environmental impact in keeping with international practices and to gain experience in this sphere. An environmental and social monitoring team is to be set up as part of the project under the auspices of the project management unit. The works involve fairly simple infrastructure posing few environmental problems and offer flexibility in terms of location, thus minimising any negative effects.

In general, the Bank's services will ensure that the procedures implemented by the promoter comply with Directive 97/11/EC on EIAs. The project's impact on any nature conservation sites will also have to be monitored. Groundwater exploitation by drilling will be a special focus of attention to prevent the risk of overexploitation. The promoter will not be able to commit funding from the lenders for work requiring an EIA without first submitting the EIA, duly approved by the competent authorities, to the lenders.A programme-based approach will be adopted in order to achieve the goals of the Paris Declaration on the harmonisation of procedures among lenders, including for invitations to tender. In accordance with the provisions of the ACP-EU Water Facility, the lenders, including the EIB, will follow the procedures of the lead lender, in this case the Agence française de Développement. These procedures are in line with the Bank’s procurement guidelines. With regard to international competitive bidding, a prior information notice covering the whole project will be published in the OJ and will be followed by tender notices for awarding the project's major works.