Tunisia and the African Development Bank have signed two financing agreements worth about $240 million to modernise drinking-water infrastructure around the capital and upgrade ageing production facilities operated by the state-owned Tunisian Chemical Group.
The agreements, signed in Tunis on 22 September, combine infrastructure, industrial modernisation, energy efficiency and environmental investment. According to the African Development Bank, both facilities are backed by state guarantees and align with Tunisia’s 2026–2030 Development Plan.
Modernising Greater Tunis water infrastructure
The first agreement provides a €111.5 million loan to Société Nationale d’Exploitation et de Distribution des Eaux, Tunisia’s national water utility. The Greater Tunis Drinking Water Network Technical and Energy Performance Improvement Project is intended to make potable-water supply more reliable and efficient for nearly 2.9 million people.
Planned works include rehabilitating 25 kilometres of transmission pipelines and 113 kilometres of distribution network, modernising three distribution facilities and deploying equipment to detect leaks.
The project also combines water infrastructure with energy and digital technology. It will install 17 megawatts of solar capacity, introduce energy-recovery turbines and upgrade electromechanical equipment. About 120,000 smart meters are planned, serving roughly 500,000 people, alongside remote metering and management systems.
Industrial rehabilitation and cleaner production
The second agreement is a $110 million loan to the Tunisian Chemical Group to support the rehabilitation and environmental upgrading of production units at Gabès, Skhira and M’Dhilla.
The investment will target atmospheric emissions, critical industrial installations and energy efficiency while helping restore production capacity and modernise management systems. At Gabès, the recovery of available steam is expected to provide 23 megawatts of self-generation capacity.
Infrastructure finance with multiple objectives
The two facilities illustrate how infrastructure financing is increasingly being structured around several objectives at once. The water project combines network rehabilitation with solar generation, energy recovery, leak detection and smart metering. The industrial project combines production rehabilitation with emissions control and greater energy efficiency.
For Tunisia, the investments come as water security, industrial competitiveness and energy costs remain closely connected to the country’s wider economic resilience. The projects also show how development finance can be used to modernise established public infrastructure while embedding digital and lower-carbon systems into existing networks.
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