Maputo, 3 Oct (AIM) – A new Urban Water Security Programme, financed by the World Bank, should provide improved water supply and better service delivery to over 1.3 million people in southern Mozambique.
“Access to clean water is a basic human right and essential for Mozambique’s resilient and inclusive development,” said the World Bank country director, Idah Z. Pswarayi-Riddihough, cited in a World Bank release on the new programme.
“Through this programme, the World Bank supports the government’s vision of ensuring that every person in Mozambique benefits from a high‐quality water supply service”, she said.
The programme is financed through a grant of 150 million dollars from the International Development Association (IDA).
According to the release, it “aims to enhance the enabling environment for private sector participation in the country’s water provision, promote sustainable and climate-resilient service delivery, and foster better and more efficient water distribution services”.
“The programme will combine investments in infrastructure development and an expansion of services with investments and incentives to improve service performance,” according to Pierre Francois-Xavier Boulenger, World Bank Senior Water Supply and Sanitation Specialist.
Mozambique’s southern region is semi-arid at the best of times. Nowadays, frequent droughts, exacerbated by climate change, “reduce water availability and lead to water supply restrictions”, said the release. “To address this challenge, the project will support investments to mobilize and treat additional water from complementary sources, reducing the dependency on single sources and increasing the climate resilience of water supply operations in selected cities”.
The programme is part of the Mozambican government’s 3.1 billion dollar Investment Programme for Sustainable, Inclusive, and Resilient Urban Water Services in Mozambique (2022–2032).
(AIM)
Pf/ (277)
