Maputo — The Italian government has granted about 386,000 US dollars for the rehabilitation of the Boane Agriculture Institute (IAB) and the Umbeluzi Pedagogic Institute (IPU), both in the Boane district, about 40 kilometres west of Maputo.

The coordinator of the project, in the Education and Culture Ministry, Vadinho Paulo, told AIM that work on the partial rehabilitation of IAB are budgeted at 95,000 US dollars, and the remainder of the money, 291,000 US dollars, is for a full rehabilitation of the IPU.

The two jobs were handed over on Tuesday to the winner of the tender, the Mozambican company Marcleusa, in the presence of the Italian Ambassador, Carlo lo Cascio.

According to Vadinho, the workl on the IAB works should be completed within four months, and the rehabilitation of IPU should take six months.

"The full rehabilitation of IPU will include painting and renovation of the water supply system, the sewers, and the electrical systems, and should start by 24 February, he said.

For his part, IAB deputy director Paulo Munguambe told AIM that his institution is facing serious problems concerning its water suppl.y, On some occasions, the institute has gone for 15 days without water.

He added that this is a problem that affects the entire population in Boane, and it is caused by the fact that the water supply system was not designed to serve the current number of inhabitants.

He complained that the situation is made worse by the privately operated company, Aguas de Mocambique, which is responsible for supplying the town with water. Munguambe said that this operator does not think twice before cutting the supply whenever there is a delay in payment of the bill, which poses a health risk to hundreds of students at IAB.

He urged the relevant authorities to try and find a solution to this situation, because IAB students should not be obliged to go without water.

"The government never accumulates debts that it cannot pay. What happens is just a delay in the disbursing of the money", he said.