Barwaaqo in Somaliland: 3 of 35 new water points under construction

The World Bank's February 2025 aide-memoire for the Somalia Water for Rural Resilience (Barwaaqo) Project records that in Somaliland 3 of the 35 targeted new water points were under construction, rehabilitation of 5 of the 15 targeted existing points was complete, and procurement documents had been prepared for 14 points planned to go under construction by December 2025. A World Bank team held the implementation support mission with the Government of Somaliland on 19 and 20 February 2025 at the World Bank office in Nairobi.

What the source records

The World Bank states that overall implementation progress improved since the August 2024 mission. In the five federal member states, of the initially targeted 100 water points to be constructed or rehabilitated, 21 were completed, 14 were under construction and 11 under procurement, with 54 sites identified and under design. The same aide-memoire reports that up to 122,950 people have been provided with access to an improved water source from the completed water points. Project approval was 9 December 2022, with a closing date of 29 February 2028.

What it means on site

For anyone planning work around a Barwaaqo point, the aide-memoire gives a status tally rather than a works schedule. A point counted as under procurement has documents prepared and is not yet excavated or drilled. General practice on rural water supply is to confirm the siting, design depth, expected yield and safeguards assessments before mobilising plant, and the source does not give these per site. Contractors and suppliers can ask the implementing unit which package covers a named point and whether it sits in the construction or procurement list as of the mission date.

What the source does not establish

The aide-memoire is a mission snapshot dated February 2025, and the counts change with each implementation support mission. It does not establish the present condition of any Somaliland point, the completion date of the 14 points whose documents were prepared, or the outcome of the Sool and Sanaag discussions, where the source says modalities for implementation were still being discussed. A design, a procurement package or a plan for construction by December 2025 is not a completed works. A later mission aide-memoire or the project implementation unit's updated progress report would confirm the current state.

What to do next

Ask the Somaliland Project Implementation Unit for the current status list against the February 2025 aide-memoire and, for a specific site, the package number, scope and safeguards documents. To confirm what has been built since, request the next implementation support mission aide-memoire.