Turkey's Forestry and Waterworks Minister Veysel Eroğlu indicated in the statement that DSI has provided Africa with drinking water to cater to the clean water needs of almost 350,000 Africans. “DSI's initiatives in Africa began with Ethiopia in 2005. We have provided almost 100,000 people in 28 settlements with potable water,” said Eroğlu, explaining that the project was expanded to many other settlements inside Ethiopia and gradually moved outside of the country to include Niger, Sudan and Burkina Faso.
According to the statement, Turkey plans to add 30 more wells to the 104 it has already established in Niger, and the country was rushing to send drilling equipment to drought-hit Somalia with the aim of drilling 40 wells to help contribute to increasing the amount of clean water the country currently has.
The country is also planning to drill 20 additional wells in Burkina Faso, parts of which Turkey has already aided by building wells.
The minister also announced plans to drill 30 wells in each Mali, Senegal, Gambia, Ghana, Benin and Togo as an extension of the current project.
