ECA-backed financing for the construction of 1,000 drinking water boreholes with solar pumps, as well as the construction of drinking water supply plants and water pipelines to supply 189 Ivorian villages in Cote d’Ivoire.This financed project is part of “Water for All”, the Ivorian government initiative to improve drinking water supplies as part of a multi-year expansion plan, especially in rural areas.This is one of the first water projects ever in whole Africa to cover app. 1,200 different remote sites within one project, and one of the largest water projects in Ivory Coast and in whole West Africa in recent years from all aspects – total amount, geographical rural spread, and impact on number of people and communities. The project will provide good quality drinking water for app. 3 million people – which is app. 10% of the country’s population.Usually, large water projects in Africa handle central cities or central treatment facilities. However, this unique project (as its name – “water for all”) – is aimed for very remote and small villages and communities, which are scattered all over Ivory Coast (the villages population varies between 400 people to 40,000 people per village). Those remote villages today suffer from extremely poor water conditions, and have to walk sometimes kilometers to the nearest water source.In each remote village Baran will supply and construct advanced water systems, which include (a) drilling and pumping water from boreholes, (b) treatment systems, which make the water qualitative as per WHO standards, and then (c) transporting the clean water in pipes to central points in the village, which are accessible to the community. The government is responsible for O&M and providing the water to the population. Such systems will improve dramatically the water, health and sanitation conditions of the population.Being one of the first water projects ever in Africa to handle 1,200 remote sites - the lenders and the stakeholders had to come up with very innovative methodologies, first of their kind, to ensure proper environmental & social due diligence, which will ensure also proper long-term O&M of the project for many years to come. This has been done with various professional firms (SLR, IBIS) and with various unique reports and studies which have been prepared, for almost 3 years.As the loan amount is very massive, the borrower (rightfully) insisted on keeping the financing costs on the lowest levels. The work on the financing package has started on beginning of 2019. Despite the dramatic global volatility in the markets during the work process on this deal (first – the Covid period, and then the situation in Europe and the Ukraine war effects) the lenders have managed, with great efforts, to keep the financing costs (based on fixed EUR CIRR) extremely attractive, and almost intact, thus saving Ivory Coast huge amounts of money.