The Maputo City Municipal Council (CMCM) has announced that the urban sanitation works, budgeted at approximately 16 million dollars, should be completed in May.
According to João Munguambe, CMCM Councillor for Infrastructure and Sanitation, speaking to reporters on Thursday, the work currently under way is aimed at improving the capital’s infrastructure and quality of life “while acknowledging the constraints that the interventions have caused to urban mobility” – a polite reference to the constant traffic jams caused by digging up central Maputo roads.
“The city currently has two major structural projects linked to urban sanitation and drainage in the lower part of the city, both fundamental to reducing flooding and improving sanitary conditions”, said Munguambe.
He explained that the project, which is funded by the World Bank, started in November 2023 and “it should have already been completed if it had not experienced significant delays. If everything had gone according to plan, the downtown area would no longer be facing the current constraints”.
Despite the delays, Munguambe guaranteed that the municipality is working to minimize the impacts by re-opening to traffic the sections where the work is complete.
“We have been making an effort to pave and open each section to traffic as we finish it. There is still a section in the area of the Chamanculo Hospital up to Acordos de Lusaka Avenue, where work continues,” he explained.
In parallel, the city center drainage project, initiated in April 2025, is underway with a planned duration of 18 months and also financed by the World Bank. According to Munguambe, the completion rate is 35 percent and covers several important arteries of the city, where new sewers are being installed.
This work, he said, represents a historic milestone for Maputo, “fifty years after national independence. This is the first time the city has witnessed interventions of this magnitude in the drainage and sanitation system.”
“Whenever it rained, the city was flooded. These interventions aim to solve these problems and make the area safer for business and with better urban mobility. Our role is to coordinate these interventions to minimize the impact on residents”, he said.