Pamba — Water supply projects undertaken in the northern Mozambican province of Nampula, and co-financed by the African Development Bank (ADB) and the government, have helped improve significantly this service during the last 12 months.

The Integrated Rural Water and Sanitation Project (ASNANI) also includes the building of improved latrines in all the 17 districts in Nampula.

According to the Nampula Provincial Director of Public Works, Bento Mualoja, the establishment of water supply and sanitation infrastructures in rural areas is having a positive impact on the communities, both in terms of public health and the sustainability of the project.

"Water supply coverage grew by seven per cent between 2007 and 2008 and there are currently 400 drinking water sources in the Nampula rural areas", he said, adding that such improvement is also visible in the urban areas, where feasibility studies were conducted to determine the quality of the soil and the existence of ground water.

Nampula communities have been mobilized to manage their own water sources. Thus Water Management Committees were created through which the communities contribute with money to open and manage the water sources. ASNANI coordinator Nilton Trindade explained that involving the communities in helping pay gives them a sense of ownership of the sources. If they regard the sources as belonging to them, they will be encouraged to ensure that they are properly managed and maintained.

Nampula was identified as the province with the lowest water supply coverage rate, partly due to the difficult conditions of its soils. The initial project, designed in 2003, was to build 520 water sources in Nampula and 400 in the neighbouring province of Niassa, but Nampula had to reduce this figure to just 400 because of the high salinity of the soil, particularly in areas along the coast, and the rocky nature of the soil in some other areas.

The project, which is part of the government's National Water Supply Policy, is co-financed by ADB and the government and is budgeted at 24.6 million US dollars, of which Mozambique has contributed 10 per cent.

The idea of the project is to supply safe drinking water to about 460,000 people (in Nampula and Niassa), and to build 575 new latrines in schools, health centres and other public institutions. The project also includes building 25 systems to collect rain water.

Most of the 39 companies involved in the implementation of this project are based in Mozambique, rendering consultancy services, supplying equipments, and doing the actual building work.