WFF and WaterWorX signed the Memorandum of Understanding for the cooperation in Kenya
Author: Alisher Makhmudov
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POOLING RESOURCES TO BRIDGE KENYA’S FUNDING GAP
The $400 million funding deficit in Kenya’s National Water Master Plan will need to be met from sources other than the pulic purse. A new pooled water facility could go some way to taking up the slack.
“There is a long history of these structures working, and the beauty is that they can be tailored to the legal and institutional framework of each country.”
“There is a long history of these structures working, and the beauty is that they can be tailored to the legal and institutional framework of each country.”
Martin Baker
Martin is an environmental lawyer based in New York. He has a particular expertise in infrastructure development and finance. He has participated in the evaluation, organization and management of pooled financing entities in more than a dozen countries. This experience began with his service as Director on the New York State Environmental Facilities Corporation, which pool finances all municipal water and sanitation projects in New York State.
Richard Torkelson
Senior Advisor with Unplugged Capital, a syndicated loan fund. Work experience includes being an international finance consultant and senior advisor, an investment banker, and a high-ranking governmental official specializing in various areas of government and public finance, especially as it relates to water and wastewater infrastructure. Formerly a Board Member on the United Nations Secretary General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB).
Portfolio
Kenya takes off
The first National Water Financing Facility (NWFF), Kenya Pooled Water Fund (KPWF), has been initiated in Kenya with support of the Netherland Embassy in Nairobi, the Kenyan National Treasury, the Ministry of Water and Irrigation, the Water Sector Trust Fund, USAID, SIDA and SNV. The Kenyan NWFF has been incorporated with a Kenyan Board and senior staff members and expects the first pooled bond to be issued in 2019. The projects in first bond issuance will provide new services to aprox. 400,000 people of which 25% are living in designated Low Income Areas. We expect the Kenya NWFF to be able to plan similar bond issuances each year going forward.
Currently, the WASREB has identified 13 potential investment-grade utilities deemed capable of servicing external debt
‘One of the lessons we learnt is that technical assistance is continuously necessary.’
