The management of water resources is still a major challenge, especially at a time when the country is struggling with the problem of climate change, namely intense droughts in some regions, making water availability less predictable.
In this regard, the Executive revealed on Thursday (16), during the 19th edition of the Annual Private Sector Conference (CASP), that around 4.5 billion dollars are needed to implement projects related to the construction of dams and 10,000 reservoirs to meet the country’s demand.
Speaking on a panel on ‘Trends, Innovations and Sustainability Challenges in the Real Estate Sector and Infrastructure for Climate Resilience’, the Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, Carlos Mesquita, said that negotiations are already underway with co-operation partners in order to obtain the desired funding.
‘There is a major impasse in terms of investment to equip the country with water resource management capacities. There are projects to build dams and reservoirs and we are already in contact with potential investors,’ he added.
Last year, the World Bank made 30 million dollars available for the maintenance of the Pequenos Libombos and Corumana dams in Maputo province, the Massingir and Macarretane dams in Gaza and the Gorongosa dam in Sofala, with the aim of restoring their normal operating capacity.
At the time, Delário Sengo, head of the Water Works and Maintenance department at the Administração Regional de Águas do Sul (ARA-SUL), explained that ‘the interventions would include sluice gates and other discharge structures’, and that it was also planned to replace the oils in the sluice gates to improve the functioning of the infrastructures, as well as work on the meters.
‘At the Massingir dam, for example, there is a need to clean the downstream slope, correct the damage caused by soil erosion and replace some corroded metal components. Now the dams are working, but with some deficiencies, and we can’t let the problems get worse,’ he said.
This edition of CASP, organised by the Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA) in partnership with the government, aims to reflect ‘on the progress and challenges of the Package of Economic Acceleration Measures and to debate the conditions of the business environment, in order to make the country more competitive’. Projects valued at 75.8 billion meticals (1.7 billion dollars) will also be discussed.
Taking place under the theme of ‘Investments and Business in the Environment of Economic Acceleration Measures: Challenges and Opportunities’, the three-day event (15 and 16 May) will be attended by 80 foreign businesspeople, more than 4,000 in-person participants and 20,000 virtual ones.
According to a CTA press release, there are also more than 40 national and foreign speakers and delegations from more than 12 countries, such as Mauritius, South Africa, Angola, Brazil, Portugal, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Zimbabwe, among others.
