The Water Security and Resilience Project will get a US$25 million grant from the World Bank, and the Resilient Municipal Services Project in the Palestinian territories will receive a US$15 million grant.
An additional US$33 million will be used to co-finance both activities from the Partnership for Infrastructure Development Multi-Donor Trust Fund (PID MDTF), which is run by the Bank.
“We are embarking on these much-needed coordinated efforts with our donor partners to deepen our development impact in providing and increasing a more stable supply of water and sustainable municipal services for the Palestinian people,” said Stefan Emblad, World Bank Country Director for West Bank and Gaza. “
Both initiatives expand on the Bank’s prior commitments to the two industries.
Through this funding, sectoral institutions’ performance will be improved, reforms and policy development will be supported, services for underserved groups will be expanded, and risks associated with climate change and natural disasters will be reduced.
The volume and quality of drinking water accessible per person in the Palestinian territories do not match WHO criteria, despite the fact that almost 80% of the population has access to water.
Meanwhile, Gaza and the West Bank, which rely significantly on Israel for its water supply, have seen a sharp decline in the availability and dependability of water.
Non-transparent pricing and huge arrears are problems for the provision. The populace of some Palestinian regions frequently depends on vendors and private groundwater.
Water scarcity will worsen as a result of reduced precipitation brought on by climate change, which will also impair aquifer replenishment.
The Partnership for Infrastructure Development Multi Donor Trust Fund (PID MDTF), which is managed by the World Bank, will add US$26 million in co-financing to the World Bank’s US$25 million award for the Water Security and Resilience Project.
It is the first of several initiatives to facilitate the implementation of significant water and sanitation investments and changes in line with the reform program of the Palestinian Authority.
The ability of the water industry to plan and carry out actions to improve resilience to climate change and natural catastrophes will be developed as a result.
The project’s main objective is to improve infrastructure so that more people in the Jenin Governorate can get clean water. Over 100,000 people in Jenin and the areas to the northeast of the city will benefit from it.
Along with improving sector institutions’ performance, the project will also make investments in the Palestinian Water Authority’s capacity to create and carry out water sector policies and strategies that will lead to the creation of regional water utilities, increased cost effectiveness, and cost recovery to address the arrears problem.
It will include the upkeep and management of the wastewater treatment facility in Hebron.
Based on dependable information systems and real-time connection with beneficiaries, it will also promote awareness-raising initiatives to improve service delivery to consumers and service providers’ response to client demand.
In order to examine various water and wastewater model types and get ready for future sector investments, preparatory studies are also planned.
“Performance-based financing to Palestinian municipalities, which provide services to up to 75% of the Palestinian population, continues to provide critically important financial and institutional support to improve the delivery of urban infrastructure and services. The new municipal project will help further strengthen the financial sustainability of the local government sector,” added Emblad.
The PID MDTF will contribute US$7 million to the Resilient Municipal Services Project in addition to the World Bank’s US$15 million award.
Using block grants and performance-based service delivery grants, the initiative will assist up to 159 municipalities in the West Bank and Gaza to ensure equity and reward greater institutional and financial performance, which will eventually improve service delivery at the local level.
The project builds on successes from a number of municipal support projects and seeks to accelerate institutional and policy changes in support of an efficient intergovernmental fiscal transfer system and the creation of instruments to increase municipal own-source revenues in the direction of sustainable local governance.
Key ministries and municipalities will get technical support and capacity building to enhance regulatory oversight, transparency, and accountability, raise local government revenues, and enhance the enabling environment for public-private partnerships.
collaborations, and increase local government units’ access to private funding. The hazards associated with natural disasters and climate change will also be addressed through technical help and funding for communities.
Source: The World Bank
