WINDHOEK, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Namibia's water and sanitation program has received a boost with the 100 million Namibian dollars (about 7.9 million U.S. dollars) provided by the European Union Thursday.
The European Union pledged 430 million Namibian dollars (about 34 million U.S .dollars) to Namibia's water and sanitation program in 2011.
When she handed over the money to agriculture minister Mutorwa in Windhoek, the European Union ambassador Jana Hybaskova said Namibia has made great strides in providing rural communities with potable water and sanitation.
According to Hybaskova, statistics released in 2015 by the directorate of water supply and sanitation in the agriculture ministry showed that 89 percent of rural communities have access to clean water.
She, however, said while there was success in providing access to potable water, the agriculture ministry neglected the issue of sanitation.
This, she said, was revealed in the report that showed that only 18.5 percent of the rural population had better sanitation facilities in 2015.
Hybaskova said if Namibia works to improve in providing better sanitation, it could score better.
Mutorwa said the funding from the European Union had helped Namibia to achieve a lot in providing clean water to its rural communities.
He also said the government of Namibia was in the process of building dams among them the Nerckatal Dam in the south of the country that would make it easier for the people to access clean water.
