In the last three years, the government has only built and rehabilitated 8,102 dispersed water sources in rural areas of the country, out of a planned 14,481.

246 water supply systems have also been built in rural areas with the potential to cover an additional 615,000 people.

The total number of potential beneficiaries accessing improved water supply services in rural areas was 1,670,000, which is equivalent to 5.2% of the total population in 2022 and 8% of the rural population in the same year.

The data was released yesterday (30) by the Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, Carlos Mesquita, in Maputo, during the Joint Annual Meeting for Performance Assessment of the Water Sector (RAC - 2023).

During the same period, 342,000 improved latrines and around 66,000 septic tanks were built by families in rural areas, resulting in around 1.8 million new people with improved sanitation services, which corresponds to around 5.5 % of the 2022 population.

"Around 135,000 domestic connections have also been established by the public service and 199 standpipes have been built, equivalent to around 667,000 people served by improved water services, corresponding to 2.1% of the total population in 2022 and 6.1% of the urban population in the same year," he emphasized.

It is important to note, he said, that there are also around 353,000 private sector domestic connections (FPAs), whose service is not yet regulated.

However, it supplies a very significant portion of the urban population with a contribution of around 18% of urban coverage.

"With the conclusion of the work started last five years on the Corumana dam, an additional total storage capacity of 520 million cubic meters was installed, thus reaching a national capacity of 59.1 billion. With this volume of water, we can guarantee availability for domestic consumption for around 2.5 million people, especially those living in the Greater Maputo area," he said.