Tete, Mozambique, July 11, 2025 (Lusa) - The provincial governor acknowledged on Friday that almost half of the rural population in the province of Tete, in central Mozambique, does not have access to drinking water, and he pointed to the need for investment to increase production capacity, with plans for 600 new sources.

In a statement released by the Tete Provincial Executive Council, Governor Domingos Viola acknowledged that the province must mobilise funds to build more water sources and thereby improve supply to the rural population, challenging the Provincial Public Works Directorate to draw up plans to improve supply.

He also said that the provincial government already has a plan to build more than 600 new water sources in the current five-year period, “to increase the drinking water supply coverage rate, to promote the prevention of waterborne diseases”.

In August last year, the then President of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, stated that 63.6% of the population already had access to drinking water, and the country could further improve this through the construction of more dams, especially in the north of the country.

“At the beginning of my term in 2015, access to drinking water stood at 51%, supplying 12.6 million people, and at that time Mozambicans numbered 20 million.” (...) With the implementation of various programmes, notably Água para Vida (Water for Life), coverage has risen to 63.6%, benefiting around 20 million people in 2024,” said Nyusi during the inauguration of the water supply system in Pemba, in the province of Cabo Delgado, in northern Mozambique.

LYCE/ADB // ADB.

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