Africa-Press – Angola. The Minister of Energy and Water, João Baptista Borges, has ruled out, for now, the implementation of a project to capture water from the Cunene river, in the municipality of Matala (180 km) to Lubango, as it is expensive.
The minister who was giving explanations this weekend at the end of the program to combat drought in Huíla, which includes the municipalities of Lubango, Chibia and Gambos, said that capturing water from the Cunene river is a solution that has been studied for a few years and got good proposals, but it’s still not viable at the moment.
He justified that no progress was made because the solution itself is still expensive for the existing population, as it will have to foresee the construction of a water catchment in Matala, then aqueducts or pipelines that will take the liquid to Lubango, a distance of at least 180 kilometres.
He explained that to get this water to Lubango, it has to be pumped at several points, which makes the solution even more expensive, because the difference in altitude between the two municipalities is “great” and to overcome this gravity barrier, investment in pumping is high.
For the official, it is a solution that would be justified if Lubango already had three million inhabitants, as it now has just over one million, so it is a project that will be developed in the long term.
He referred that the budget for this was around US$700 million, just bringing water to Lubango, then it was necessary to build reservoirs, distribution networks and other equipment would be left per inhabitant, a very expensive solution.
He stressed that, with the water sources still existing, studies have been carried out and a less expensive solution is possible at this time to solve the water security problem in Lubango, but the dissolution of Matala is not far away.
He stressed that the water problem in Huíla is urgent, it has to have short-term solutions, a challenge for the country, but it is necessary to mobilize financing and capable companies.
Chipindo and Quipungo with funding approved for water projects
João Baptista Borges referred that funding has already been approved, totaling the two projects close to 70 million dollars and they expect it to start later this year. waters requires greater attention from the Executive.
He also added that they had recently found a financing solution for a supply system for Caconda, a project costing close to US$46 million and they hope to start building quickly and then have to build energy for Chicomba, Cuvango, Qulengues, Caluquembe, among others.
He announced the approval by the World Bank of financing for a Climate Resilience and Water Security project in Angola “RECLIMA”, to be implemented in the near future, within which the Neves and Sendi dams will be rehabilitated, which also store water for the water security in the region.
Water is fundamental for life and development. It is necessary to mobilize resources, a work in progress. The great philosophy of these works is to combine surface water with underground water.
Huíla with solar electrification project to benefit more than 800 thousand inhabitants
Even without advancing the amount of funding, nor the time horizon for implementing the initiative, the minister said it was financed by Ecobank, from the United States of America and surveys were carried out, in Huíla they are predicting the construction of 15,000 networks.
The network consists of systems and solar panels with batteries and a distribution network that will cover 15 locations in the province, with emphasis on the municipal seats of Quilengues, Caluquembe, Caconda, Chipindo, Chicomba, Cuvango, Matala, Quipungo, Gambos, Chiange, Hoque and Cassinga.
The network, according to the minister, will allow 14,400 home connections from it to benefit 869,000 inhabitants, a project that is under negotiation between the Ministry of Finance and the financing entity for the signing of the agreement.
The minister’s visit to Huíla served to observe the work on the hydroelectric plant at Matala, presentation and consultation of the program to combat drought in Huíla, as well as the launch of projects to reinforce the water supply in the municipalities of Humpata and Chibia.
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