Lilongwe Water and Sanitation Project

closed

The objective of the Lilongwe Water and Sanitation Project for Malawi is to increase access to improved water services and safely managed sanitation services in Lilongwe City. There are four components to the project, the first component being water distribution network rehabilitation, expansion and NRW reduction. This component involves investments in priority network rehabilitation to remove bottlenecks, increase hydraulic capacity of the existing network and reduce losses, and network expansion to increase coverage. Key investments include: upgrading of 142 km of existing distribution network and creation of pressure zone boundaries; construction of 27 km of transmission mains, eight associated pumping stations and four storage reservoirs with a combined storage of 2,600m3; and performance‐based water loss reduction through improvements in network maintenance, active leakage control, speed and quality of leak repairs and pressure management. The second component is the priority sanitation improvements. This component will finance various investments to increase access to safely managed household and public sanitation services in Lilongwe. These investments include: rehabilitation and expansion of the sewerage network (107 km); installation of 5,000 new sewer connections; rehabilitation and upgrading of the existing Kauma sewage treatment plant; support to construction of 8,000 improved sanitation facilities targeting the poor and vulnerable households; sanitation marketing campaigns; and construction of improved sanitation facilities in 10 markets and 10 schools. The third component is the technical assistance. This component will finance technical assistance (TA) activities designed to support preparation and supervision of all infrastructure investments planned under the project; and to enhance LWB’s capacity to plan future investments under the Lilongwe Water Program. Finally, the fourth component is the institutional capacity strengthening. This component will finance a set of activities designed to: (i) strengthen the capacity of LWB to implement the project and to provide improved water services to its customers; and (ii) strengthen the capacity of LCC to implement the sanitation component of the project, operate and maintain the sanitation infrastructure and support the reforms needed to provide and promote safely managed sanitation services in Lilongwe.