According to a World Bank press release, the objectives of the project are to increase water supply coverage in the cities of Beira, Quelimane, Nampula and Pemba, and "to establish an institutional and regulatory framework for water management in smaller cities and towns"
The Bank notes that these objectives are also supported by a grant (also of 15 million dollars) from the Africa Catalytic Growth Fund (ACGF - a multi-donor trust fund set up by the World Bank in 2006), which was approved on 8 August.
The release claims that the project "builds on accumulated World Bank experience in the sector, with special mention for the ongoing National Water Development Project II (NWDP II) and its supplemental credit, totaling 90 million dollars". The focus of NWDP II is "to build physical and institutional infrastructures aimed at improving the management and production capacity of water in the country".
The release cites Jane Walker, the World Bank Task Team Leader for the new project, as saying it "will particularly extend networks in peri-urban areas where the bulk of low income population lives and where the risks of water borne diseases are much higher".
Under the project, 370 kilometres of water pipes will be laid in the four cities covered, which should result in 10,000 new connections to the water supply system.
A second component will provide institutional and operational support to the National Water Board (DNA). This will involve the creation of an Asset Management Unit (AMU) in the DNA.
While the government's Water Supply Investment and Assets Fund (FIPAG) owns the water assets in the main cities, the new unit in the DNA will manage and plan investments in smaller cities and towns, including the contracting of third party operators.
The AMU will be closely linked with investment funding in northern Mozambique from the United States Millennium Challenge Corporation.
The Bank adds that the project will also assist in drawing up a rural water supply "sub-Sector Wide Approach (SWAP) mechanism", which will provide resources to complement "a donor-wide initiative led by DNA to develop a strategy to scale up the demand driven community participatory model for village piped systems and non-piped systems".
The project's third component is to provide institutional and operational support for the Water Regulatory Board (CRA), the body which is supposed to defend the interests of consumers. It will, the release says, "provide resources to complement the CRA's expanding work on its efforts to extend the regulatory frameworks and oversight to smaller cities and towns".
The money comes from the World Bank's soft loans affiliate, the International Development Association (IDA), on standard IDA terms. The IDA has dropped the term "interest" - instead, its loans carry a "commitment charge" of 0.1 per cent per year and a "service charge" of 0.75 per cent per year. The repayment period is 40 years, including a 10 year grace period.
To discuss water supply related issues, a conference opened in Maputo on Tuesday, gathering representatives of the government at various levels, national and international regulators and operators, the private sector, consumers, academics and cooperation partners.
Under the theme "Transforming the Water Supply Industry into a Fair Business to Serve All", Public Works and Housing Minister Felicio Zacarias warned "The quality of service is more important than the mere construction of infrastructures. We are concerned about an efficient and sustainable management of these services".
He added that operation and maintenance of the systems must take priority. When it takes five years to plan and raise funds for a water system, and two years to build it, that system should last for the following 20 years, and must be self-sustaining, Zacarias stressed.
SOURCE: AIM
