Bissau

Bissau’s urban infrastructure has long been constrained by unreliable water supply, weak drainage, deteriorated streets and limited solid-waste services. In a low-lying coastal city, these systems are closely related: blocked or damaged drainage increases flooding, while poor street conditions reduce access to neighbourhoods and public facilities.

Transport and urban-infrastructure programmes have rehabilitated streets, sidewalks, culverts and drainage while improving water networks and small social facilities. The Water and Energy Project also extended and renewed supply infrastructure in the capital. Although many of these investments are older, they identify the systems that remain structurally important to Bissau’s urban functioning. Continued growth requires coordinated maintenance and renewal of water, drainage and streets rather than isolated repairs, particularly in dense neighbourhoods where service failures have immediate effects on mobility and public health.