Mauritania and France have signed a €41 million financing agreement intended to improve drinking water services in the Mauritanian cities of Nouakchott and Nouadhibou.
The programme is expected to support the installation and rehabilitation of 150,000 household water connections and improve supply for around 1.6 million people. It is aimed particularly at vulnerable neighbourhoods on the outskirts of urban networks, where access to reliable services can be difficult.
The agreement was signed in Nouakchott on 11 November by Mauritania’s minister of economic affairs and development, Mohamedou Ahmedou Mhaimid, France’s ambassador Emmanuel Besnier and Ignace Monkam-Daverat, the French Development Agency’s director in Mauritania.
The financing includes a sovereign loan and a grant. The total announced value is €41 million, but the amounts attached to each component and the repayment terms have not been set out in the announcement. Signing the agreement does not in itself mean the money has been spent or the work completed.
Connections and network performance
The 150,000-connection figure covers both new installations and the rehabilitation of existing connections. It should not be taken to mean that 150,000 entirely new connections have already been made. The estimate of 1.6 million potential beneficiaries is a projection for the programme, rather than a count of people who have already received an improved service.
Alongside connection work, the programme is intended to reduce technical and commercial losses from the distribution system. It also aims to improve the performance of the national water company, Société nationale de l’eau, and strengthen the network’s ability to withstand climate pressures.
Mhaimid said losses on Nouakchott’s water network were estimated at around 57 per cent in 2024. That figure relates to the capital’s network and to an earlier year; it is not a measurement of the current programme’s results or a separate estimate for Nouadhibou.
Network losses can arise in different ways. Some water is physically lost before it reaches customers, for example through leaks. Commercial losses can include water that reaches users but is not properly recorded or billed. A figure that combines categories cannot be treated as a measure of leaking pipes alone.
Reducing losses can help a utility make better use of water it already produces and protect revenue needed to operate the service. The extent of any improvement in the two cities will depend on how the programme is implemented and maintained.
A focus on urban services
The two cities have different roles in Mauritania’s urban economy. Nouakchott is the capital, while Nouadhibou is a major coastal city. The agreement concentrates on their water distribution services rather than announcing a nationwide household connection programme.
For households, a working connection is only part of the question. The quality and continuity of supply also depend on the wider network and on the utility’s ability to operate and maintain it. The programme’s combination of connection work and support for the water company reflects those linked challenges.
Mhaimid said investment in production and distribution capacity had increased, but the benefits depended on the condition of the network and the performance of the public water operator. The agreement also envisages strengthening the utility’s relationship with its users.
Mauritania faces wider pressure on water resources after decades of drought and desertification. It has recently joined the United Nations Water Convention, a framework for cooperation over shared water resources. That international step is separate from the new financing for urban distribution networks.
France and Mauritania have previously worked together on water infrastructure. In 2025, they signed a separate €43 million financial protocol to support an extension of the Aftout Essahili water transmission network, intended to serve Nouakchott and communities along the pipeline. The newer agreement focuses on distribution and connections in Nouakchott and Nouadhibou.
The latest signing establishes a financing commitment and a set of objectives. Details such as the division between the loan and grant, the schedule for works and the number of connections to be newly installed or rehabilitated remain important for assessing how the programme progresses.
