The Mozambican authorities intend to intervene in the country’s main river basins to minimise the risk of flooding and improve the management of water resources, the newspaper Notícias reported on Monday, 25 November.
According to the report, these interventions consist of the construction and improvement of protection dykes located along six of Mozambique’s main river basins, namely Incomáti, in Maputo province; Limpopo, in Gaza; Save, in Inhambane and Sofala; Búzi, in Sofala; and Zambeze and Licungo, in Zambézia province, covering an area of around 500 kilometres.
The works are valued at around 5 billion meticals (80 million dollars), provided by the state budget and cooperation partners. The information was provided by Messias Macie, national director of Water Resources Management at the Ministry of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources (MOPHRH).
According to the official, ‘the work should start in the first half of 2025, with an expected duration of two to three years, and at the moment work is underway to survey the technical, environmental and social components to determine the sections where the rehabilitation, construction or improvement work should take place,’ he said, adding that ‘the technical survey work to assess the environmental and social conditions, among others, should be completed this November, to give way to the bidding process and the start of the work.’
The work will also consist of plugging holes, raising the dykes, building hydraulic infrastructures such as aqueducts, as well as installing refuge platforms for the population while they wait to be rescued in the event of dyke failure.
‘The main purpose of the interventions is to create climate resilience, with the aim of making the dykes robust so that they can withstand climatic events, thus protecting the population and infrastructure in the event of floods,’ he concluded.
