The Ministry of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources (MOPHRH) and Operation Water Mozambique (OWM) will invest about 23 million dollars to provide eight districts in the southern, central and northern provinces of the country with safe drinking water.
These are the districts of Macia and Nuvunguene, in the province of Gaza, Marromeu and Machanga, in Sofala, Guruè and Morrumbala, in Zambézia, and Chimbonila and Nipepe, in Niassa. The set of systems to be installed by that world philanthropic organization should benefit about 380 thousand people.
To be carried out by the Water and Sanitation Infrastructure Administration (AIAS), the concession will last for 30 years.
To put the project into effect, the Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, João Machatine, and the executive director of OWM, Ryan Page, signed the concession contract in a ceremony held recently in Maputo.
Speaking minutes after the signing, Machatine said that a new era is opening in water supply in the eight districts and concessions of the country.
That is why he believes that the coordination and commitment of the parties involved will be a “great foundation” of this public-private partnership, now consummated, whose work, according to him, is already launched for investors and domestic and international operators in the water supply sector.
“We hope that the initiative of Operation Water Mozambique Limitada will stimulate several other private and public sector initiatives in the development of water supply or sanitation and water resources on a national scale,” he said.
He added that the initiative should be a vehicle for local capacity building through knowledge transfer.
In fact, the minister said that local government services will be available to provide appropriate support to all contract players, including potential investors who may be interested in operating the water supply.
In recent years in the country the water sector is, according to Machatine, an investment opportunity for private partners, which includes the opening of private supply systems.
The governor announced that a tender will soon be launched for the management, administration and expansion of some 156 water supply systems scattered throughout the country.
The 156 systems will be in addition to 57 new water supply systems under construction in “rural areas,” whose construction is expected to be completed, according to the minister, by 2024.
Page said that OWM’s motto is to take water to every country in the world, including Mozambique, especially to rural areas.
For the project’s success, Page stressed the involvement of local government services during the pursuit of water infrastructure as well as women, as they are the ones who generally manage water in families.
“We want to leverage our strong business development skills,” the CEO said, adding that the infrastructure erected by OWM “has eternal durability.”
