Dramatic increase in Maputo water supply under way

16 April 2010, Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique
URL: http://allafrica.com/stories/201004131133.html

Maputo:  The Mozambican government and foreign donors and funding agencies are investing 95 million euros (about 129 million US dollars) to rehabilitate and expand the water supply system for the cities of Maputo and Matola and the neighbouring town of Boane, more than doubling the number of people in the Greater Maputo area with access to safe drinking water.

On Monday, the Minister of Public Works and Housing, Cadmiel Muthemba, laid the first stone for this project, which should be completed by the end of 2011.  At the ceremony, Muthemba declared that the government regards water supply as one of the key means of relieving poverty, and guaranteeing the economic development of the country.

"Access to clean drinking water ensures good public health, increases productivity, and allows the emergence of new activities that generate jobs and income", he said.

The project involves increasing the capacity to produce and transport treated water, reducing losses, expanding the distribution network, and building new distribution centres. A new water treatment station will be built on the Umbeluzi river, a new water main will carry water from the Umbeluzi to Matola, and the existing mains will be rehabilitated. New distribution centres for Matola and Boane will be built in the neighbourhoods of Tsalala, Belo Horizonte and Matola-Rio.

The project also envisages installing 16 small scale autonomous systems in parts of the cities not yet reached by the public network. A total of 680 kilometres of pipes will be installed or rehabilitated. It is expected that, at the end of the project, the number of consumers benefiting from clean drinking water in the area will rise from the current 670,000 to 1.5 million. (The total population of Maputo, Matola and Boane is about two million).

Water will become available for 24 hours a day (rather than the current 12 hours), and it is hoped that there will be a 25 per cent reduction in water losses.

The Mozambican government is financing 13.8 per cent of the project. The donors and funding agencies involved are the European Investment Bank (31 per cent), the European Union (25 per cent), the Dutch government (18.6 per cent), and the French Development Agency (6.6 per cent)