Finance Trust Bank Launches Water And Sanitation Loan

By Aloysious Kasoma

Finance Trust Bank (FTB) has unveiled a new product; Trust water and Sanitation Loan aimed at extending safe and clean water to low income earners.

Speaking at the launch on Wednesday at Serena Hotel, the FTB Managing Director Annet Mulindwa Nakawunde said that the loan was developed in partnership with Water.org, a nonprofit organization that transforms communities across Africa.

Nakawunde said that the new product is now available in all the 36 branches across the country at an interest of 25% and paying back the loan will take a period between 3 to 5 years.

“Around 270 customers have received this loan which has benefited over 1,000 households from Sh800m disbursed by the bank. It is funny to hear schools and health facilities are closed over sanitation,” Nakawunde said.

According to Nakawunde, the loan starts from as low as Shs300, 000 and the bank is targeting to tap into universities, public hospitals, schools among others.

Anthony Githinji, the regional representative of Water.org said that the organization wants to bridge the financial gap affecting households in Uganda.

According to Uganda Bureau of Statistics’ Water and Sanitation Sector Gender Report, over 22% of households use rivers, stream, and lakes as a main source of water while over 37% use boreholes and about 56% households in Uganda travel over 3km to access water.

Yunia Musaazi a representative from WASHNET, a group of 250 NGOs for Sanitation related activities said that the average budget for water and sanitation doesn’t exceed 3%.

“If we are to take 2020 as our middle income target, water and sanitation should be prioritized because we need water to preserve for agriculture which is a key pillar in our economy,” she said.