The Portuguese Minister for the Environment and Climate Action said on Wednesday in Maputo that Portugal was open to supporting and sharing experiences with Mozambique in expanding water supply systems in the African country.

"Portugal wants to intensify the sharing [of experiences] with Mozambique," João Pedro Matos Fernandes said on the sidelines of the international donors' conference held in Maputo.

The plan to expand water supply systems in Mozambique has a 10-year timeframe, and during the period, the country expects that an additional 1.8 billion dollars will be invested in the construction and modernization of infrastructure, with the support of the private sector and partners, in the ambition to guarantee universal access to the resource.

As part of the plan, Portugal will disburse one million euros over the next three years to support Mozambique in carrying out a "set of studies that are necessary for it to meet the objective of having other models for managing water services," said João Pedro Matos Fernandes.

According to the Portuguese governor, the experience that Portugal has acquired with the transformation of the sector in the last 25 years will be shared with Mozambique, but it is important to realize that the realities and challenges are different.

"Environmental issues are always linked to the territories and no two territories are the same," stressed the Portuguese leader.

In addition to signing a support agreement with the Minister of Public Works, Housing and Water Resources, João Machatine, João Pedro Matos Fernandes' agenda on his four-day visit to Mozambique includes two other projects in the area of nature conservation: 150,000 euros for the Maputo elephant reserve, run by the Mozambique Parks and Reserves Service, and 150,000 euros for the recovery of the Marromeu mangroves, run by the Gorongosa Park.

The ruler again highlighted that in 2017, when the Environmental Fund began, Portugal expressed its intention to finance projects in the Portuguese-speaking African Countries (PALOP) and Timor-Leste to the tune of 10 million euros, a figure that reached 11.5 million euros in 2021.

Of this 11.5 million euros, he mentioned, 1.8 million euros were invested in Mozambique, until the end of 2020, namely in seven projects in the water cycle, to reinforce the water supply, mainly in Maputo.

Starting in 2022, and for five years, Portugal expects to invest 20 million Euros for cooperation in the environmental field and in the fight against climate change.

Lusa Agency