Debts threaten water supply in Manica – FIPAG

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Debts threaten water supply in Manica – FIPAG

9:05 CAT | 21 Sep 2017

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Water supply in the central Mozambican province of Manica is being compromised because a large number of clients are not paying their water bills, according to Victor Tuacale, the Manica director of the government’s Water Supply Investment and Assets Fund (FIPAG).

He said that the total debt owed by FIPAG’s clients in the province is around eight million meticais (about 131,000 US dollars, at current exchange rates). Much of the debt is owed by public institutions, and Tuacale warned that the situation is endangering the activities FIPAG has planned for this year.

FIPAG supplies water to the provincial capital, Chimoio, and to the towns of Gondola, Manica, Messica and Bandula. Its domestic connections and standpipes benefit almost 282,000 people.

During the first half of this year, FIPAG in Manica made 1,030 new domestic connections, which was only two thirds of the 1,500 initially planned, and installed seven new standpipes. The new connections are part of an expansion of the supply network in outlying neighbourhoods of Chimoio.

Six new kilometres of piping were laid in the Agostinho Neto and Piloto Norte neighbourhoods, as part of the “Water for Life” project, which is financed by the Dutch government.

“Our target is to supply more water to the public”, said Tuacale. “Our desire is to see more people drinking clean water. We are working as hard as we can to see if we can manage to achieve what we planned for this year”.

Also Read: Consumers in Tete grow weary of ‘water restrictions’

“Despite financial difficulties, and although we have few resources, our activities have never stopped”, he added. “We guarantee maintenance of the equipment from the treatment station at the Chicamba dam to the taps”.

“The debt problem is very serious”, said Tuacale, “because this money could be used to improve the system. It’s a very large sum. Some Chimoio neighbourhoods need more water because the city is expanding. Every day we have new zones. But there are things we cannot do because we don’t have the money”.

Also Read: Manica misses rural water supply target

Also Read: Central Mozambique without drinking water

Source: AIM