Ethiopia has launched a $523m project to improve water treatment and provision in 23 cities.

The work includes building 1,000 public toilets across the country. In 2018, Global Water Intelligence notedthat only 12% of Ethiopia’s urban population had access to a flush toilet.

The World Bank is providing $460m for the scheme, with the remainder to come from other donors, The Ethiopian Herald reports.

Nuredin Mohamed, a senior official at the Ministry of Water and Energy, told the Herald that most of the preparatory work had been completed and the way was clear for construction.

The programme will include Tigray regional state, which recently fought a war against the central government.

This ended a year ago with a ceasefire and the reassertion of Addis Ababa’s control over Mekelle, the region’s capital and Ethiopia’s second-largest city.

Ethiopia then spent $1m buying electric pumps to restore water provision in the city.