Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambique needs approximately US$4.1 billion to accelerate the expansion of sustainable water supply and sanitation systems in the country, it was announced yesterday.
“With a financing gap of approximately US$4.1 billion [for this purpose], Mozambique continues to mobilize domestic and external resources,” reads a statement from the Ministry of Public Works, Housing, and Water Resources.
According to the statement, the financing to “accelerate the expansion of water systems and improve sanitation” in the country involves public-private partnerships, multilateral donors, and climate funds.
“The country remains committed to universalizing access to water and sanitation, whose current levels stand at 62% and 37%, respectively, and reinforces its commitment to resilient infrastructure and inclusive services,” the ministry adds.
On the 9th, the Mozambican Minister of Public Works called for “rapid and effective responses” to accelerate universal access to drinking water in the country by 2029, calling for a reduction in supply imbalances between urban and rural areas.
“Water and sanitation are the most visible and most demanded services by citizens. Here, we are called upon to provide rapid and effective responses to universalize water and sanitation services. Our vision is clear: to advance, step by step, towards universal access, prioritizing rural and urban areas and the most vulnerable groups, and to reduce imbalances in the provision of public water supply services,” said Fernando Rafael.
In August of last year, then-President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, stated that 63.6% of the population currently had access to drinking water, indicating the need to strengthen the supply through the construction of more dams, especially in the north of the country.
“At the beginning of my term, in 2015, access to drinking water was at 51%, that is, it supplied 12.6 million people, but when we Mozambicans were 20 million. (…) With the implementation of several programs, especially Água para Vida, the level of coverage evolved to 63.6%, benefiting around 20 million in 2024,” said Nyusi during the inauguration of the Pemba water supply system, in the province of Cabo Delgado, northern Mozambique.
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