Hargeisa, 20 September 2015-- The European Union, Somaliland Development Fund, UN-Habitat, and the Government of Somaliland on Sunday inaugurated the start of installation works for the new 23-km water supply pipeline from Geed Deeble to Hargeisa. On completion in 2017, the project will increase the amount of water available for Hargeisa city from 9 million to 14.5 million litres per day.

The Hargeisa Urban Water Supply Upgrading Project (HUWSUP) is jointly funded by the European Union and the Somaliland Development Fund to the tune of EUR 15 million and USD 8.6 million respectively. The project is implemented by UN-Habitat, in partnership with the Hargeisa Water Agency and the Somaliland Ministry of Water Resources.

The overall objective of the project is to improve access to safe and affordable water and the livelihoods of vulnerable households in urban and peri-urban areas of Hargeisa city, through the expanded supply of drinking water from sustainable water sources and the associated creation of employment opportunities. Adequate water supply is a fundamental prerequisite for economic growth at the individual, household, enterprise, and collective level.

The new water pipeline replaces the 40-year-old existing pipeline system with a new high-capacity single-transmission main, thus bringing more water into the municipal system. The new water supply pipeline, together with the new Geed Deeble pumping station that will be constructed over the coming 12 months, is designed for a capacity of 20 million litres of water per day. As a first step to increase the water production, four new boreholes at Hora Haadley are currently nearing completion, with very promising yields.

The project is expected to be completed by January 2017. These important infrastructure works will lay the foundation for other ongoing and future water expansion works that will contribute to achieving the full potential of the new Hargeisa water system: drilling additional boreholes, connecting additional well fields, and upgrading the distribution network to deliver water to areas of the city that have so far been underserved.

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