The Hargeisa Water Agency (HWA) held a commissioning ceremony for the Hargeisa water expansion and improvement programme on 10 October 2022. This programme is supported jointly by the Government of Somaliland, the European Union (implemented by UN-HABITAT), and the Somaliland Development Fund (implemented by HWA).

The commissioning ceremony was officiated by the President of Somaliland, H.E. Muse Bihi Abdi, in Geed Deeble, Hargeisa. The event was also attended by the Minister of Planning and National Development, the Minister of Water Resources Development, the General Manager of Hargeisa Water Agency, and other stakeholders.  

This programme has enabled HWA to increase its water production and transmission capacity from 6 million litres to 18 million litres per day through the rehabilitation and drilling of various boreholes and connecting them to the city.

SDF has so far supported the following:

• Drilling and equipping of three boreholes at Hora Hadley well field and transmission facilities via Geed Deeble
• Provision of 23km of transmission pipeline from New Geed Deeble to Chinese reservoir
• Connection of 8 boreholes to New Geed Deeble Pumping Station

Currently, the SDF is supporting HWA with the drilling and connection of three boreholes via 13km of pipeline to the New Geed Deeble Pumping Station, which is expected to be completed in December 2023. This new investment will further increase water production from 18 million litres to 22 million litres per day.

It is envisaged that by 2023, HWA’s water production will be 4 times the current production.

Speaking at the inauguration of the project, the President said:  

“I’d like to thank all those who supported us financially and technically for this important project, especially Somaliland's development partners. This project has faced numerous challenges; however, I am pleased that we have reached an important milestone by launching its first operations”.

HWA's General Manager explained that "Water production previously was 6000 m³ per day, but now it is tripled, and Hargeisa will receive 18,000 m³ per day, which means providing clean water to 500,000 people. This is a significant step forward and we thank all our international partners."

As the Chair to the SDF Joint Steering Committee, the Minister of Planning speaking at the same event, said, "This was the greatest effort made because it is a government-led programme that has received timely assistance from Somaliland's development partners. I am grateful to the governments of the United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway for funding this programme through SDF."

As a part of its support to HWA, the SDF is also funding a water sustainability study, which aims to identify alternative water sources for Hargeisa for coming 25 years. The study will also assess the ability of the existing water sources to satisfy the anticipated water needs of the city.