ANKARA

Turkey is expanding its efforts to help provide safe, usable water to some 3 million in African countries suffering from water shortages, Ankara’s top water official said Wednesday.

"We are planning to give a helping hand to nine [more] African countries with our experience and knowledge," said Turkish Minister of Forestry and Water Affairs Veysel Eroglu.

Ministry projects include helping with digging wells, monitoring and managing water quality, water and wastewater purification technologies, irrigation, dam construction, and protecting, upgrading, and managing water resources.

"We’ve set our goal in this framework. We have provided eight African countries with water so far. And now we’re starting to supply water to nine other African countries," said Eroglu.

The ministry currently helps provide 1.7 million people in Africa with water, he said, and as of 2019, this number should rise to 3 million.

The nations included in the latest efforts are Chad, Togo, Benin, Ghana, Guinea, Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Gambia, and Kenya. Previous countries helped are Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Mauritania, Niger, Mali, and Djibouti.

In addition, many Africans needing water benefit from Turkish humanitarian aid projects through the State Waterworks Directorate, Prime Ministry Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA), and non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

Those groups have helped dig 2,600 wells for people living in harsh conditions in many African countries, providing almost 9 million people with fresh drinking water.