The Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, Carlos Mesquita, revealed that the Water Supply Investment and Property Fund (FIPAG) needs about US$1.8 billion for the implementation of its National Investment Programme for the 2022-2032 period, which foresees, among other actions, the consolidation of water supply in urban areas.
According to the governor, while this amount is not mobilised, the institution should focus on the challenges currently facing it, which are associated to the operational efficiency of water supply systems, with emphasis on reducing losses.
“Along with the reduction of losses, whose levels are considered worrying, FIPAG should also give priority to the quality of the water, to energy efficiency, to the increase of production, to expansion and distribution, to the studies and identification of more sources, to maintenance and increase of coverage, as well as customer satisfaction”, explained Carlos Mesquita.
The minister was speaking today, 5 December, in Maputo city, at the opening ceremony of the FIPAG National Meeting for Balance and Planning 2023, during which he noted that the government’s investments in the water sector in the last ten years amounted to 114 million meticais, a considerable part of which was applied to the rehabilitation, expansion and construction of supply systems in several cities and towns in the country.
However, he continued, there is a need to do more, so that by 2030 the country can achieve goal number six of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which is to ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all.
For this, according to projections, “the sector needs to invest, annually, about US$200 million to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,” detailed the leader.
In his turn, the director general of FIPAG, Victor Tauacal, said that this meeting was taking place in a context of change, characterised by institutional reform and implementation of the Delegated Management Framework for Water Supply in the country, which culminated with the launch, last November, of regional water trading companies in the city of Beira, in Sofala.
“We are confronted with our relevant role in the Country’s financial and socio-economic agenda, and therefore, through internal revenue generation and the challenges of self-sufficiency, which ensure the continuity of services and the social stability of workers, should prevail as our priority, in addition to the transfer of funds to the Treasury, in order to pay the Debt Service, so as to ensure the confidence of our funding partners,” he concluded.
With a duration of two days, this national meeting takes place under the theme “Second Generation of the Delegated Management Framework: Strategic Vision vis-à-vis Institutional Consolidation and Transformation”.
