The Mozambican government and its partners signed the second round of the Code of Conduct with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) for the establishment of a Sector Wide Approach (SWAp) for water supply.

The national director of water, Juliao Alferes, told reporters that several projects in water supply and sanitation, budgeted at US$ 40 million (EUR 27.7 million) will be funded by the African Development Bank for a five year period, starting in 2009. He added that in parallel with these, there is also another five year project, in the southern province of Inhambane, estimated to cost US$ 10 million (EUR 7 million), an agreement for which should be signed soon with the Dutch government.

The government has succeeded in gradually increasing access to sources of clean water in both the countryside and the towns. The current figures show that 48.7 per cent of the rural population but only 40 per cent of the urban population has access to decent water supply. Access to proper sanitation is 39 per cent in rural areas and 47 per cent in urban ones.

Source: Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo) / allAfrica.com, 15 July 2008

Tags: africa, financing, governance, policies & legislation, water supply