ADB’s biggest grant to RMI

At the grant signing ceremony in Majuro last week, from left: ADB Deputy Director General for the Pacific Hideaki Iwasaki, ADB Executive Director Justine Diokno-Sicat, President Hilda Heine, Minister of Finance, Banking, and Postal Services David Paul and Minister of Works, Infrastructure and Utilities Thomas Heine. Photo: Samelda Leon.

The Asian Development Bank and the RMI government signed off last week on the bank’s largest-ever grant to the Marshall Islands.

The $52.5 million grant will be focused on fresh water, sanitation and solid waste management improvements on both Majuro and Ebeye.

The largest portion of the grant will be directed toward Majuro Water and Sewer Company, with additional funding for solid waste management improvements to Majuro Atoll Waste Company and the Kwajalein Atoll Development Authority.

The grant is part of the ADB’s Integrated Urban Services and Resilience Improvement Project. 

Minister of Finance David Paul, Minister of Works, Infrastructure and Utilities Thomas Heine and ADB Deputy Director General for the Pacific Hideaki Iwasaki signed the agreement at the Cabinet conference room late last week. President Hilda Heine and ADB Executive Director Justine Diokno-Sicat were on hand for the signing. Three ADB Director Advisors from the US, Singapore and the Philippines were also part of the large ADB delegation that visited for the signing of the unprecedented grant to RMI.

According to the ADB, the project will provide:

  • Resilient and sustainable water and sanitation facilities and services in Majuro.
  • Enhanced circular economy and waste services delivery in Majuro.
  • Improve climate resilience and road connectivity in Ebeye. 

The project will also build the institutional and financial capacity and performance of urban service providers, which will further enhance the sustainability and resilience of urban services, said the ADB.

What this means in practical terms is a huge water and sewer upgrade for MWSC. The ADB funding will help MWSC upgrade its water treatment plants and its main water delivery pipe with upgrades from the airport to Rita, build a 300,000 gallon daily capacity desalination plant with overhead tanks, upgrade the hospital’s reverse osmosis water making system, and other work. Part of this grant will be used to upgrade MWSC’s current sewer pump stations.

“After completion, it will eventually provide 24 hours of potable water from the airport to Rita,” said MWSC General Manager Damian Capelle.

The rest of the grant will be used for solid waste programs in Majuro and Ebeye.

The aim is for this project to start in early 2025 with a five-to-six-year timetable to completion.

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