Integrated Urban Water Management Master Plan for City of Windhoek in Namibia

Background: The City of Windhoek (CoW) is faced with steady demographie growth, and growing informai settlements. The Municipality, which encompasses 326,000 inhabitants, is located in a semi­ arid area  with annual  rainfall averaging  370mm only and scarce surface  water and  groundwater resources. Windhoek's main water resource is transferred over several hundreds of kilometres from the Northern part of Namibia. Climate change is anticipated to result in higher temperatures, increased evaporation, and rainfall intensity across Namibia. The conjunction of the steady urban growth, scarce water resources, and projected climate change impact makes it necessary for CoW to plan the municipal water infrastructure with an Integrated Urban Water Management approach in order to optimize the re­ cycling of  wastewater and sludge produced by the City.

Objectives: The objective  of the project is to provide The City of Windhoek with (i) a strategie document for the sustainable development and operation ofwater  and wastewater infrastructure for the next 20 years and (ii) an operational investment framework.  This document will be developed with an integrated and participative approach and will include a financing strategy.  The project will help achieve equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water and adequate and equitable sanitation for ali in the City of Windhoek.

Beneficiaries  and impact: The direct beneficiary ofthe project will be CoW. Its 326,000 inhabitants (2011) will indirectly benefit from the project when the investments identified and prioritised will be implemented.

Activities and Implementation: The project activities are structured under three components. Component  I includes  the preparation  of the Integrated  Urban  Water  Management  Master  Plan which comprises a Strategie Environmental and Social Assessment, financing strategy and identifies priority projects. Component II aims at preparing at detailed design stage a priority project that will be selected through the Master Plan. The plan and priority projects will be presented to financiers during a conference  in order to start funding mobilisation  for implementing  the latter. Component III is related to project management, stakeholders' consultation and quality control. The Republic of Namibia  is the  beneficiary  of the  grant  and  CoW  is the  Executing  Agency  for the  project.  A consultancy  firm will be required to undertake the main study and a Technical Advisory Panel will be in charge of the project quality assurance. The project will establish a Consultative  Committee composed of the main stakeholders,  which will meet at the key stages of the project to inform the decision of the Steering Committee. The project is planned to be implemented  over a period of 36 months after its approval.

Cost and Financing: The total cost ofthe project is estimated at Euro 1,439,000. The proposed funding from the AWF is Euro 1,037,400 or 72% of the total project cost; CoW will provide a monetary contribution equivalent to Euro 321,600 and an in kind participation estimated to Euro 80,000 both of which represent 28% of the total project cost.