Angola’s minister of Energy and Waters, João Baptista Borges has said that there is urgent need to institute urgent need to expand drinking water supply network in Angola to improve the quality of life of the people.
In a statement to the press immediately after his arrival in the country’s Saurimo City, the minister said that the city and its municipal headquarters are in need of more drinking water to respond to the needs of the people.
The minister noted that the provincial administration and the head of the Angolan Executive, José Eduardo dos Santos, regard as priority the water projects and programs mainly in rural areas.
He admitted that Saurimo has in itself a considerable energetic shortfall which calls for the reinforcement of the water supply capacity, so as to overcome the problem, thus the Ministry has developed projects aimed at increasing the capacity with the installation of a new central which will enable a more regular water supply.
The minister said the government is constructing a dam in Dala Municipality to supply power to the region starting 2017
“We are building a dam in Dala Municipality, Luanda Sul Province, which will supply electricity to the region, as from 2017, and the municipalities of Camanongue (Lunda Norte Province) and Luena (Moxico Province), aimed at improving the well-being of the people” he explained.
Recently during the sixth edition of the African Ministries Council on Water and Sanitation (AMCIOW) meeting in Dar es Salaam ,Tanzania leaders from around the continent called for more efforts to ensure Africa achieves access to universal safe water by 2030. The situation may get out of control if urgent remedial measures are not taken to because by 2030, the continent’s population will be around 2.2 billion.
Availability of clean water in Africa continues to be a major challenge with reports from WHO indicating that most children in Africa die before they reach the age of 5 due to illness related to dirty water.