Mozambique: Dutch Aid for Water and Sanitation

Maputo — Holland has promised to provide 70 million euros (about 91 million US dollars) to support a new water and sanitation programme in Mozambique.

To this end, Mozambican Deputy Foreign Minister Henrique Banze and Dutch Ambassador Frederique de Man, signed a memorandum of understanding in Maputo on Thursday.

Banze said that the memorandum seeks to continue and step up cooperation between the two countries in the area of water supply, dealing with the questions of water availability, the protection of water resources and water management and governance.

“The signing of this memorandum bears great witness to the undertaking that the governments of Mozambique and Holland have made to improve the living conditions of the Mozambican public, in terms of hygiene and sanitation, in the context of complying with the Millennium Development Goals, as well as to ensure the correct management of water resources”, said Banze.

Currently about 64 per cent of Mozambicans living in rural areas have access to safe drinking water. This figure is equivalent to about ten million people, Under the National Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Programme, the government hopes to reach the target coverage of 70 per cent of the rural population by 2015.

“In the area of urban water supply, this effort has allowed us, to date, to reach 70 per cent of the urban population”, said Banze. “The recent conclusion of work to rehabilitate and expand the water supply system for the towns of Chimoio, Manica and Gondola (in the central province of Manica) has allowed us to reach 200,00 people, and the system installed has the potential to reach a further 150,000″.

De Man said this sum is in addition to a further 100 million euros of Dutch aid used for various water programmes already under way in Mozambique.