Mozambique: Teenage mothers dropping out of school for lack of support - HRW
TVM
The Mozambican and Dutch governments signed an agreement in Maputo on Monday under which Holland is to provide 146 million meticais (about 2.4 million US dollars) to strengthen water supply capacity in the Maputo region.
The agreement, signed by Public Works Minister Carlos Bonete and by Dutch ambassador Pascalle Grotenhuis, is an emergency measure to cope with critically low water supply in and around Maputo.
The government had requested assistance to mitigate the situation in Maputo and Matola cities and the neighbouring district of Boane.
The greater Maputo area takes most of its drinking water from the Umbeluzi river which in turn depends on discharges from the Pequenos Libombos dam. The dam reservoir has been at historically low levels this year and pumping restrictions have been in force since January.
The Dutch funding will be used to boost the capacity of the Intaka water distribution centre in Matola. The ambassador explained that equipment will be purchased for drilling six boreholes in Intaka and connecting them to the general Maputo water pumping system.
“We hope that with this intervention we will be able to reach 100,000 people who are currently facing daily water shortages or restrictions”, said Grotenhuis.
The intervention was possible, she added, because of a partnership agreement for institutional support to the government’s Water Supply Assets and Investment Fund (FIPAG). An agreement on Dutch support for FIPAG was signed in 2016. This support will last until 2021, and is budgeted at 12.5 million euros (about 14.5 million dollars).
The current Dutch programme with FIPAG is focused on drought mitigation measures, reducing water losses, protecting water resources by making them more resilient to climate change, and better monitoring of water quality.
Bonete told the signing ceremony “Our expectations are that these activities will be implemented rapidly to minimise the water supply restrictions experienced by people in Maputo, Matola and Boane”.
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