Cape Town to sign loan with German state-owned KfW Bank for urban wastewater management
The City of Cape Town will next week sign a loan agreement with the Germany’s KfW Development Bank.
CAPE TOWN – The City of Cape Town will next week sign a loan agreement with the Germany’s KfW Development Bank for urban wastewater management which will be payable at a favourable rate over 15 years.
The loan is in line with the City’s ongoing focus on the upgrading of urban wastewater management facilities and the diversification of Cape Town’s future water mix, and is an integral part of German-South African cooperation to mitigate the effects of climate change and contribute to more water resilience.
The signing will coincide with a state visit next week by German Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier to South Africa.
Steinmeier will hold political talks with President Cyril Ramaphosa in Cape Town after an economic roundtable with the minister of trade and industry, Rob Davies, and German business representatives.
Last month, Cape Times reported that the city wants to borrow R4 billion over the next three years to fund its capital projects. One of the loans the city reportedly wanted approved was an €80 million, or R1.3 billion, loan from the German government-owned KfW Development Bank.
Kerstin Bittige, spokeswoman for the German embassy in Pretoria, declined to comment about the amount of the loan, saying a statement would be released next week and all questions should be directed to the City of Cape Town.
Spokeswoman for the city, Jean-Marie de Waal, was not immediately available for comment. Cape Town has just survived one of the worst droughts in years which saw the city implementing stringent water restrictions and even preparing for Day Zero, a day in which it would have completely run out of water.
– African News Agency (ANA)
Source: iol.co.za