Announcement of Tunisia to Undertake Water Supply Project for Low- Income Families with Thirty Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars World Bank Loan on April 29, 1982

· FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE •World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Wa.,nington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A.• Telephone: (202) 477-1234 BANK NEWS RELEASE NO. 82/82 Contact: Sunda ram Sankaran Apri 1 29, 1982 (202) 477-3962 TUNIS IP, TO UNDERTAKE WATER SUPPLY PROJECT FOR LOW- INCOME FAMILIES WITH $30.5 MILLION WORLD BANK LOAN Tunisia's efforts to improve water distribution under the country's 1982-86 Development Pian will be assisted by a World Bank loan of $30.5 million for a Sixth Water Supply project. The 1oan will help finance a $64 mi11ion project to increase access of low- income families to piped water. The project will provide some 480,000 people with piped water in their dwellings, and an additional 150,000 rural dwellers with safe water from public standpipes. Since 1968,the World. Bank has been assisting the Soci~t~ Nationale d'Exp1oitation et de Distribution des Eaux (SONEDE), which is an autonomous public enterprise, to improve water supp1y in the country. About $95 million in loans have been supplied for five previous projects. The major obstacle to the rapid expansion of piped water distribution systems has been the remote location of fresh water sources from population centers, which creates high per-capita costs for water supply projects, especially in rural areas. Under the project, water supply systems in about 150 rural and semi-urban centers will be constructed, expanded, or improved. Credit will be made avai1able to low- income families to help finance water pipe connections from main pipes to dwellings. Water meters will be installed in some 80,000 private homes to permit billing of ,water !J,sage. Besides improving wate~ distribution, the project will strengthen SONEDE 1 s project preparation and appra~sal capacity and its financia1 policies. The World Bank Joan is for 17 years, including four years of grace, with interest at 11.6% a year; the 1oan also carries an annual commitment charge of 0.75% on un- disbursed balances, and includes a front-end fee of 1.5% on the amount of the loan. NOTE: Money figures are expressed in U.S. dollar equivalents.