9.5 billion US dollars to improve water

Mozambican government is working to mobilize about 9.5 billion US dollars needed to improve supply and management of water and sanitation systems, especially in rural areas. This would allow Mozambique to meet the Sustainable Development Goal established by the United Nations by 2030 ‘to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.’Of this amount, 4.1 billion is to be invested in improving water supply and sanitation and the remaining 5.4 billion for management and maintenance of related infrastructure, announced Mozambican Prime-minister, Adriano Maleiane, on Friday.

“It is a huge sum of money”, said Maleiane speaking in New York at the high-level roundtable on water supply, water management and sanitation. “But I believe that using some financial institutions like the World Bank and other regional institutions we can get there, and I would like to mention some strategic partners like the Netherlands”. The Prime minister assured that the Mozambican government is doing its best to provide water to the population, particularly in rural areas.

“If we go to the countryside we will see people benefiting from water and also we have trained them to use water systems”, he said, stressing the need for maintenance to ensure better performance.

“We are doing our best and women today spend less time getting some water because we are taking water near to them”, said Maleiane. He also pointed out that the youth make up about 31 per cent of the active population in the working age. Therefore, any programme in Mozambique is youth oriented specially on gender issues. That’s the reason the government wants girls to be incorporated in the economic model to give them space and time and take water close to them.Hence, the government will continue to invest in that direction because that will make a difference in Mozambique. Considering the steps already taken, Maleiane assures that the country will be able to reach the goals set by the United Nations. Earlier this year, Mozambican Minister of Public Works, Carlos Mesquita, expressed government concerns in Maputo ceremonies to mark World Water Day, over the low coverage rate for access to drinking water across the country.

“Statistics show that 66 percent of the population do not have any source of safe water”, Mesquita said. “In the urban areas, clean water reaches 83 per cent of the population, but in the rural areas, the figure is 53 per cent”. Mesquita stressed the need to ensure the fulfilment of the established goals for water supply services, especially by improving the sustainable management of infrastructures. He also conveyed the government’s concern at the level of losses in the urban systems which are running, on average, at about 46 per cent”.

“This requires urgent actions to control and reduce these losses which affect the sustainability of the water supply systems. Besides Mozambique, also in attendance were the Prime-minister of the Netherlands, representatives from Finland, Sweden, Uganda, Egypt, Tajikistan, Iraq, Bangladesh and international organizations, especially the World Bank.