Mozambique: Site for new dam to increase Nampula water supply identified

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Mozambique: Site for new dam to increase Nampula water supply identified

4:00 CAT | 21 May 2020

FILE - The so-called Nampula dam in the Monapo river, about 10 kilometres distant from Nampula city, was built between 1958 and 1959. [File photo: ARA]

Mozambique’s North Central Regional Water Administration (ARA) has identified a new site for a dam construction project to increase water supply to Nampula, the capital of Mozambique’s most populous region.

According to the institution’s source, the site is located in the Mecubúri river basin about 70 kilometres from the city, as an alternative to two other possible sites on the Meluli and Monapo rivers.

The reinforcement of the water supply to the provincial capital of Nampula has been pointed out for several years as a necessity, with negotiations taking place with cooperation partners to take the works forward.

The reservoir planned for the Mecuburi River would have the capacity to store more than seven billion cubic meters of water, about twice the current maximum size.

The supply from Monapo was created about 60 years ago and is capable of retaining about 3.4 billion cubic meters of water.

The water service administration points to a population explosion in the city of Nampula to justify the undertaking, which could end the supply restrictions – which are currently imposed due to the limitations of the Monapo reservoir.

Nampula province is the most populous in Mozambique, with 5.7 million of the country’s 28 million inhabitants, according to the 2017 population census, and the provincial capital is one of the most populated cities after Maputo.

Source: Lusa