The President of the Republic, Filipe Nyusi, said that 63.6% of the Mozambican population has access to drinking water, corresponding to 20 million people.

Filipe Nyusi was speaking yesterday at the inauguration of the water supply system in Pemba, in the province of Cabo Delgado, in northern Mozambique.

"At the beginning of my mandate, in 2015, access to drinking water stood at 51%, that is, it supplied 12.6 million people, but when we Mozambicans were 20 million (...) today the level of coverage has evolved to 63.6%, benefiting around 20 million by 2024," he said, quoted by "O País".

Nyusi guaranteed that the government will continue to focus on building more water supply systems, retention sources, rehabilitating dams and reservoirs, but asked Mozambicans for "improvements" in sanitation.

"The investments that the government is promoting in the area of water supply go hand in hand with sanitation, another problem. We can have quality water, but if the sanitation isn't good it reduces life expectancy, the quality of life," said the Mozambican Head of State, adding that "without reliable access to quality water, people become vulnerable".