Water supply and sanitation in Mozambique

Mozambique Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest... : Water and Sanitation

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! style="text-align:center; background:lightblue;" colspan="3"|Data
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"| Access to an improved water source

Improved water source

According to the Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation by the World Health Organization and UNICEF the following are considered as "improved" water sources:* household connections* public standpipes* boreholes* protected dug wells...

|valign="top"| 47% (2008)
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"| Access to improved sanitation

Improved sanitation

According to the Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation by the World Health Organization and UNICEF the following are considered as "improved" sanitation:* connection to a public sewer* connection to a septic system* pour-flush latrine...

|valign="top"| 17% (2008)
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Continuity of supply (%)
|valign="top"| n/a
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Average urban water use (l/c/d)
|valign="top"| n/a
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Average water tariff (US$/m3)
|valign="top"| n/a
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Share of household metering
|valign="top"| Low
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Annual investment in WSS
|valign="top"| n/a
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Share of self-financing by utilities
|valign="top"| Low
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Share of tax-financing
|valign="top"| Low
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Share of external financing
|valign="top"| 85% (2006–2008)
|-
! style="text-align:center; background:lightblue;" colspan="3"|Institutions
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Decentralization to municipalities
|valign="top"| Yes
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|National water and sanitation company
|valign="top"| Tow asset-holding companies: FIPAG for water in large cities; AIAS for sanitaiton in large cities and water supply in small towns
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Water and sanitation regulator
|valign="top"| CRA
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! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Responsibility for policy setting
|valign="top"| Ministry of Public Works and Housing
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Sector law
|valign="top"| No
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Number of urban service providers
|valign="top"| n/a
|-
! style="text-align:left; vertical-align:top;"|Number of rural service providers
|valign="top"| n/a
|}

Water supply and sanitation in Mozambique is characterized by low levels of access to an improved water source

Improved water source

(estimated to be 47% in 2008), low levels of access to adequate sanitation (estimated to be 17% in 2008) and mostly poor service quality. However, Mozambique has also introduced an innovative public-private partnership

Public-private partnership

Public–private partnership describes a government service or private business venture which is funded and operated through a partnership of government and one or more private sector companies...

for urban water supply that has operated to the apparent satisfaction of the government since 1999. Under this partnership assets in 13 cities are owned by the government through an asset-holding company. Operations in nine cities, including the largest ones, are delegated to a private company, Aguas de Mozambique, which is jointly owned by a public Portuguese firm and local investors. In the remaining four cities, municipal departments operate the systems. While the strategy for urban water supply in Mozambqique has been well defined since the mid-1990s, a strategy for rural water supply and sanitation has only been defined in 2008.

The Mozambique Millennium Development Goal status report for water and sanitation notes that the sector as a whole still strongly depends on donor financing and that donors finance about 85% of all investments. The main donors in the water sector are the World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

, the African Development Bank

African Development Bank

The African Development Bank Group is a development bank established in 1964 with the intention of promoting economic and social development in Africa...

, Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States.

Access

Only about 47% of the Mozambican population has access to an improved water source

Improved water source

, and only 17% has access to adequate sanitation. Consequences on living conditions are multiple, ranging from poor health to lower productivity due to the time needed to fetch water.

Figures on access are controversial. For example, the WHO

Who

Who may refer to:* Who , an English-language pronoun* who , a Unix command* Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism- Art and entertainment :* Who? , a 1958 novel by Algis Budrys...

/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation estimates access to an improved source of water supply at 77% in urban areas and 29% in rural areas. These figures are based primarily on data from the 2003 Demographic and Health Survey. However, the Ministry of Public Works uses the water access figures of 38% in urban areas and 40% in rural areas. The numbers for rural access are derived from the number of boreholes and an estimated average number of households using a borehole.

		Urban (37% of the population)	Rural (63% of the population)	Total
Water	Broad definition	77%	29%	47%
Water	House connections	18%	2%	8%
Sanitation	Broad definition	38%	4%	17%
Sanitation	Sewerage	4%	0%	1%

Source: Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation of WHO

Who

Who may refer to:* Who , an English-language pronoun* who , a Unix command* Who?, one of the Five Ws in journalism- Art and entertainment :* Who? , a 1958 novel by Algis Budrys...

and UNICEF

There are also conflicting figures about what are the target figures to meet the MDGs for water and sanitation by 2015. According to a World Bank document it means urban access to water increasing to 78% and rural access increasing to 56%. However, according to a MDG status report it means increasing access to 70% in both urban and rural areas.

Service quality

There are few published reliable data on water and sanitation service quality in Mozambique. Many water systems provide water intermittently. However, four cities - Beira

Beira, Mozambique

Beira is the second largest city in Mozambique. It lies in the central region of the country in Sofala Province, where the Pungue River meets the Indian Ocean. Beira had a population of 412,588 in 1997, which grew to an estimated 546,000 in 2006...

, Pemba

Pemba, Mozambique

Pemba is a port city in Mozambique. It is the capital of the province of Cabo Delgado and lies on a peninsula in Pemba Bay.The town was founded by the Niassa Company in 1904 as Porto Amélia, after a queen of Portugal, at the peninsula's south western tip and has grown around a port. The city is...

, Quelimane

Quelimane

Quelimane is a seaport in Mozambique. It is the administrative capital of the Zambezia Province and the province's largest city, and stands 25 km from the mouth of the Rio dos Bons Sinais . The river was named when Vasco da Gama, on his way to India, reached it and saw "good signs" that he was on...

and Nampula

Nampula

Nampula is the capital city of Nampula Province in Mozambique.It has a population of 471,717 making it the third largest city in Mozambique after Maputo and Beira. It is home to the Mozambique National Ethnographic Museum, several markets, cathedrals and mosques.It is also the center of business...

– have achieved continuous or almost continuous water supply as a result of private sector participation, increasing the hours of water supply per day from 9 hours (Beira and Quelimane) and 17 hours (Nampula and Pemba) in 2002 to 22–24 hours in 2007. Water supply in Maputo remains intermittent, increasing only slightly from 12 to 14 hours.

National Water Policy of 1995 and institutional reforms

In 1995, Mozambique approved a National Water Policy that emphasizes community participation and, for urban water supply, private sector participation. In 1998 the World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

approved its First National Water Development Project in support of the National Water Policy. Other donors provided co-financing for the project. In 1998 two key institutions were created to implement the National Water Policy: The regulatory agency CRA and the Asset Holding Company FIPAG. The government also approved a water tariff policy aiming at cost recovery.

Private sector participation since 1999

In 1999 the government competitively awarded a hybrid lease/management contract for seven cities to an international consortium called Aguas de Moçambique (AdeM), which was led by the French firm SAUR (35%) and included Aguas de Portugal

Águas de Portugal

Águas de Portugal group is a Portuguese state-owned company that operates in the environmental sector, in water supply, wastewater sanitation and treatment and recovery of waste. Its services include collection, treatment and disposal of urban and industrial wastewater, including its recycling and...

(32%). For Maputo

Maputo

Maputo, also known as Lourenço Marques, is the capital and largest city of Mozambique. It is known as the City of Acacias in reference to acacia trees commonly found along its avenues and the Pearl of the Indian Ocean. It was famous for the inscription "This is Portugal" on the walkway of its...

and Matola

Matola

Matola is a city in southern Mozambique, which lies 12 kilometers to the west of the country's capital, Maputo. Matola is the capital of Maputo Province and has had its own elected municipal government since 1998. It has a port and also the biggest industrial area in Mozambique...

the contract consisted of a 15-year lease and for the other cities of a 5-year management contract. AdEM also included a 30%-shareholding by a Mozambiquan holding company called Mazi of Mozambique consisting of six local shareholders. AdeM’s financial bid was substantially lower than that of the closest competitor. According to a World Bank study, it ultimately proved to be unrealistically low. By 2001 AdeM had encountered serious financial difficulties, exacerbated by flood damages in 2000. When an independent review denied tariff increases to compensate for the flood damages, SAUR withdrew from the contract in October 2001. In December it sold its shares for a nominal amount to Águas de Portugal. Subsequently FIPAG and AdeM renegotiated the contracts, obtaining higher fees and improvements in the specification of service obligations and procedures. In 1999 the World Bank approved the Second National Water Development Project In 2004 the five-year management contract for the smaller cities has been extended by three years. The contract was subsequently extended by another year and terminated in March 2008. The World Bank’s 2006 completion report of the first project "rated the outcome for the project satisfactory, its sustainability likely and its institutional development impact substantial".

Also in 2004, FIPAG entered into a three-year contract with the Dutch company Vitens under which the latter provided management support services and training in four small southern cities – Xai-Xai

Xai-Xai

Xai-Xai is a city in the south of Mozambique. It is the capital of Gaza Province. As of 2007 it has a population of 116,343 -Portuguese rule:...

, Chokwe

Chokwe, Mozambique

Chokwé, and earlier known as Vila Trigo de Morais, is a rural town and capital of Chokwe District in the province of Gaza in Mozambique. It is located about 230 km north of the capital city of Maputo. This agricultural town is noted for its tomatoes.-Economy:Chokwe lies in the mixed farming...

, Inhambane

Inhambane

Inhambane, Terra de Boa Gente is a city located in southern Mozambique, lying on Inhambane Bay, 470 km northeast of Maputo. It is the capital of the Inhambane Province and according to the 2008 census has a population of 65,837, growing from the 1997 census of 54,157...

and Maxixe

Maxixe, Mozambique

Maxixe is the largest city and economic capital of the province of Inhambane, Mozambique. It is situated on the Indian Ocean at 23°52′S 35°23′E just south of the Tropic of Capricorn, in a bay opposite historic Inhambane City which can be reached by local ferries...

. Another contract between FIPAG and Vitens was signed in 2006 for services in five additional cities in central Mozambique – Tete

Tete

-External links:* *...

, Moatize

Moatize

Moatize is a town and district located in Tete Province in Mozambique. It is located near the town of Tete and near the Zambezi River.- Economy :...

, Chimoio

Chimoio

Chimoio is the capital of Manica Province in Mozambique. It is the fifth-largest city in Mozambique.Chimoio's name under Portuguese administration was Vila Pery. Vila Pery developed under Portuguese rule as an important agricultural and textiles centre.The town lies on the railway line from Beira...

, Manica

Manica

Manica may refer to:* Manica Province, a province of Mozambique** Manica, Mozambique, a town* Manica, a part of the male Lepidoptera genitalia near the aedeagus* Manica , armguards used by the Roman legionaries and gladiators...

and Gondola. These contracts were considered transitional arrangements to prepare the services for more conventional delegated management. While Vitens’ obligations under the first contract were similar to those in AdeM’s Management Contract, its services were provided free of charge and its staffing arrangements were quite different. While AdEM management changed constantly and its expatriate-only team was based in Maputo only, according to a World Bank study, Vitens used an innovative staffing model with only the team leader residing in Mozambique, assisted by short-term experts from the Netherlands. The Dutch team developed a close working relationship with Mozambican team members, thus strengthening local capacity.

Decentralization and National Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Program

Through the Decentralization Law of 1997, which created municipal governments with elected leaders, and the Law of Local State Organs of 2003 the 129 district and 11 provincial governments of Mozambique received more responsibilities in various fields including water supply. Decisions about investments are supposed to be taken at the local level. However, the district and provincial governments often still lack the financial and human resources to carry out their responsibilities. In 2007 a National Rural Water and Sanitation Strategic Plan has been adopted, which led to the decision to create Provincial Water and Sanitation Services (SPAS) in 2009 and the establishment of a common fund for rural water supply and sanitation (PRONASAR) in 2010. The 129 districts of Mozambique are the focal point for planning and implementing the program. In 2010/11 a baseline water supply and sanitation survey is being carried out covering 2,500 households in 75 districts.

Policy and Asset Holding Companies

The National Directorate of Water (DNA) in the Ministry of Public Works and Housing is in charge of policy for water supply. Concerning urban water supply, Mozambique’s sector strategy is based on a delegated management framework – a public-private partnership set up, whereby assets are owned by the government and operations are managed by the private sector under a concession, lease or management contract. The Water Supply Investment and Asset Fund - the Fundo de Investimento e Patrimonio do Abastecimento de Agua (FIPAG) – is an asset holding company in the urban water sector through which the operation of water services was delegated to private companies. In 2009 a second asset holding company - the Administração de Infraestruturas de Abastecimento de Água e Saneamento (AIAS) - has been created for urban sanitation and water supply in secondary towns.

Regulation

The water sector is regulated by the Conselho de Regulacao do Abastecimento de Agua (CRA), with the objective to set tariffs and service quality targets, monitor compliance with the targets, review investment programs and to hear complaints by users and municipalities. CRA does not have yet the mandate to cover sanitation service. Its main mission is “to ensure a balance between the quality of the service, the interests of consumers and the financial sustainability of the water supply systems.”

Service provision

FIPAG is the owner of water and sewerage assets in 13 cities. In the five largest cities, it has delegated service provision to a private company, Aguas de Mozambique. In the remaining cities, public municipal water departments operate and maintain the systems. De facto, municipal governments play a very limited role in water supply and sanitation despite their legal responsibilities. Their revenue is so low that they depend on the central government for funding.

Tariffs

No detailed and up-to-date data on water tariffs in Mozambique are available. In 2001 water tariffs in Maputo (excl. VAT

Vat

Vat or VAT may refer to:* A type of container such as a barrel, storage tank, or tub, often constructed of welded sheet stainless steel, and used for holding, storing, and processing liquids such as milk, wine, and beer...

) stood between 2350 (US$0.11/m3)and 7700 Meticais (US$0.36/m3) for residential customers, depending on the level of consumption. CRA introduced real average tariff increases of 5 to 10 percent per year in the service areas of the private company AdeM over the period 2002 2007 with the objective of achieving
full cost recovery. Due to the contract structure, these increases benefited the public asset holding company FIPAG, not the private operator. FIPAG’s financial performance improved steadily as a result of the tariff increases.

Cost recovery

The government aims to gradually achieve full cost recovery for water supply, as stated in its 1998 water tariff policy. According to the World Bank, the urban asset holding company FIPAG is “achieving full cost recovery and can graduate from government subsidies”. On the other hand, the Mozambique MDG status report for water and sanitation notes that the sector as a whole still strongly depends on donor financing. In rural areas revenues are by far insufficient to recover operation and maintenance costs.

Investment

There are no reliable data on actual investments in the sector. It has been estimated that the water sector requires annual public investments of US$82M to reach the MDGs, compared to US$67M annually that have been “planned”. According to the World Bank, in 2007 Mozambique’s delegated private sector management approach has attracted about US$ 350 million to urban water over the last six years.

Financing

About 85 percent of investments in water supply were financed by aid in 2006–08. External financing has increased by 150 percent as compared to 2003–05, from US$46 million to US$116 million. Funding channeled through the national budget has been disbursed at a rate of 82 percent, while donor-managed projects disbursed only at an average rate of 58 percent.

Planning and Monitoring

A 2009 Water Sector Public Expenditure Review by the World Bank found that there are numerous planning documents, but still no comprehensive planning. Donors are not well coordinated and the Ministry of Finance changes budget allocations in mid-year. While there are many reports on outputs and on disbursements, but the two are not linked to each other so that it is impossible to estimate value for money.

Efficiency

Because of the poor condition of the networks, illegal connections and vandalism of meters, unaccounted-for water remained over 50 percent in most areas in 2007. Collection ratios ranged from 84% to 97%. According to a World Bank study, staff productivity in Maputo (5.4 employees per 1000 connections) compared favorably with large water companies in the Africa region. Staffing ratios were still high in the other areas, but were improving as the number of connections increased. While these figures are still far from good practice, they are an improvement over the situation in 1998 when unaccounted-for water was estimated to be more than 60%, collection efficiency ranged from 40% in some towns to 70% in Maputo, and the number of staff per 1000 connections ranged from 10 in Maputo to up to 34 in some towns.

African Development Bank

The African Development Bank

African Development Bank

The African Development Bank Group is a development bank established in 1964 with the intention of promoting economic and social development in Africa...

(AfDB) supported the water and sanitation sector with four investments projects since 1981. It provides US$19.6M of co-financing for the second national water supply project. In April 2009 it approved the Niassa Provincial Towns Water and Sanitation Project in Cuamba

Cuamba

Cuamba is a city and district of Niassa Province in Mozambique, lying north west of Mount Namuli. Before independence the town was known as Nova Freixo .It lies on the EN8 road and is connected to the city of Nampula in the east.- Transport :...

and Lichinga

Lichinga

Lichinga is the capital city of Niassa Province of Mozambique. It lies on the Lichinga Plateau at an altitude of 1360 metre, east of Lake Niassa . The town was founded as Vila Cabral as a farming and military settlement...

towns, supported by a US$27 million loan.

Canada

Since 2000 Canadian CIDA

Canadian International Development Agency

The Canadian International Development Agency was formed in 1968 by the Canadian government. CIDA administers foreign aid programs in developing countries, and operates in partnership with other Canadian organizations in the public and private sectors as well as other international organizations...

supports the Inhambane Rural Water Development Program (IRWDP).

Switzerland

Since 1979, Switzerland is backing governmental efforts in the fields of rural water supply in the Northern provinces, training (training institutions, scholarships, human resource department) and institutional support to central and provincial authorities.

The Swiss program was revised in 2003 to focus more on promoting, documenting and disseminating innovative experiences and bring them to the national debate in partnership with other donors such as the World Bank and the European Union. The main focus will remain the rural population of Northern Mozambique. Swiss aid is partially channeled through NGOs such as Helvetas

Helvetas

Helvetas is a Swiss Association for International Cooperation. It was founded in 1955 as the first private organization for development co-operation in Switzerland...

in Cabo Delgado Province, CARE in Nampula

Nampula

and Cabo Delgado provinces, and WaterAid

WaterAid

WaterAid is an international non-profit organisation set up as a response to the UN International Drinking Water & Sanitation decade . WaterAid is dedicated to helping people escape the poverty and disease caused by living without safe water and sanitation. It is based in London, England and was...

in Niassa and Zambezia provinces. The Swiss aid budget for water and sanitation in Mozambique is about US$3M per year.

United States

In 2007 the Millennium Challenge Corporation

Millennium Challenge Corporation

The Millennium Challenge Corporation is a bilateral United States foreign aid agency created by the George W. Bush administration in 2004, applying a new philosophy towards foreign aid.-Background and formation:...

approved a US$203.6 mn Water Supply and Sanitation Project for six cities, two mid-sized towns and 600 villages.

World Bank

A first World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

project (1998–2006) supported building capacity, rural water supply , water resources management, and the preparation of a new urban water supply strategy through a US$36M credit. This strategy, implemented during the second water project (2004–2009), supported large-scale civil works for urban water supply systems in five cities – Maputo

Maputo

(the capital), Beira

Beira, Mozambique

, Quelimane

Quelimane

, Nampula

Nampula

and Pemba

Pemba, Mozambique

through a US$75m credit.

The Water Services and Institutional Support Project, a US$30M project approved in 2007, aims to increase water service coverage in the cities of Beira, Nampula, Quelimane, and Pemba under the delegated management framework and to establish an institutional and regulatory framework for water supply in smaller cities and towns.

Mozambique Water Private Sector Contracts project is a US$6M Output based aid project approved in 2007 that aims to provide subsidized water connections for domestic consumers in Maputo, Beira, Nampula, Quelimane, and Pemba. This project is implemented by FIPAG and expects to subsidize the construction of more than 30,000 shared yard taps which would impact approximately 468,000 people.

Other donors

The Nordic Development Fund, which does not exist any more, provided co-financing for the first World Bank project.
The Netherlands provided US$10M of co-financing for the second national water supply project.

External links

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