USD100m UN project to boost Lake Victoria Clean up

UN-HABITAT last week announced a $110 million grant from the African Development Bank for the second phase of Lake Victoria cleanup project which starts next month.

The project jointly managed by the UN-HABITAT and the national governments targets 15 urban settlements in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, where poverty rate is as high as 50%.

The goal is to improve the living conditions of the 1 million people living in these settlements, while at the same time preserving Lake Victoria's ecosystem.

Lake Victoria is vital to the livelihood of about 30 million people in East Africa. But as the region urbanizes, pollution levels in the lake have increased and access to clean water for disadvantaged populations is far from a sure thing.

Governments of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, with the help of the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-HABITAT) have stepped in with an ambitious initiative to protect local ecosystems and to provide clean water and sanitary living conditions for inhabitants.

The Lake Victoria Region Water and Sanitation Initiative (LVWATSAN), started in 2004, aims to meet the Millennial Development Goals for water, established by the United Nations in 2000.