Mozambique: 290 New Boreholes for Manica

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: 290 New Boreholes for Manica

8:36 CAT | 08 Mar 2016

The Mozambican government plans to use 90 million meticais (about 1.94 million US dollars) to open 290 boreholes for water supply in the central province of Manica.

The Manica provincial director of public works, Joaquim Jorge, explained that the boreholes will be drilled simultaneously in all 12 districts of the province. The districts that require most attention, however, are Machaze, Gondola, Tambara, Guro and Macossa, which are the parts of the province most severely hit by the current drought.

By the end of the year it is intended that all Manica districts will have new water sources to reduce the distances people must walk to acquire clean water.

Jorge said that Machaze, in the semi-arid south of the province, will receive 20 new boreholes, while other water sources that are currently out of order will be repaired. The purpose is to ensure that everyone in the district has access to a source of clean water.

There have always been water shortages in Machaze. Rainfall is low, and people sometimes walk up to 20 kilometres in search of water, or are forced to use to draw their water from swamps.

“We want the people who live a long way from the district capitals to have access to drinking water”, said Jorge. “Right now the priority is to solve the problem of those people who have nowhere where they can obtain water, and Machaze is one of the examples. The people there have no alternative but to drink water that is unfit for consumption, which may put their health at risk”.

Due to the drought gripping much of southern and central Mozambique, agricultural activity has been compromised, plunging thousands of Manica households into food insecurity. Some of these households are now resorting to wind fruits and roots to feed themselves.

Source: AIM