Luanda — The government plans to rehabilitate 20 dams that are currently in poor condition, to ensure their durability and greater efficiency, the Minister of Energy and Water, João Baptista Borges, said Tuesday.

Speaking to the press at the end of the 9th meeting of the National Water Council, chaired by the Vice-President of the Republic, Esperança da Costa, which analyzed the Strategy for the Protection and Preservation of Springs in the Country's Main Rivers, the minister said the Dam Inventory Project shows that the country has 189 dams of this type.

The minister added that a structural study needs to be carried out with a view to intervening in those that are in a poor state, and that 20 dams have been identified in eight of the country's provinces that need this intervention.

João Baptista Borges spoke of the need to analyze the state of the dams' and draw up an intervention plan for those infrastructures that are in a weak structural condition.

According to the minister, the national dam inventory project aims to maintain and improve the safety of new existing infrastructures in order to guarantee their durability.

According to the minister, the main concern is to have a set of dams throughout the country for the production of electricity and the accumulation of retention water, in the case of mining areas, that are in acceptable structural condition and do not pose any risk of collapse.

Preservation of springs

As for the preservation of river springs, which was also discussed at the meeting, the minister pointed out that the country is the second largest water tower in Africa, after Ethiopia.

The meeting outlined strategy for protecting and preserving the springs of the country's main rivers identifies a series of factors that lead to the degradation of springs, with a negative environmental impact that jeopardizes their existence, as well as other issues.