Maputo — The Mozambican government on Tuesday approved a National Water Resource Management Plan for the next 20 years that will cost an estimated 28 billion US dollars.
Announcing the plan at the end of the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet), the government spokesperson, Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Ana Comoana, said the plan envisages the sustainable use of the river basins which Mozambique shares with other member states of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Comoana said the plan will be financed through the Mozambican state budget and aid from the country's foreign cooperation partners, and its main purpose is to assess the availability of water resources.
"The objective of the plan is to assess current and future demand for water", she continued, adding that it would prioritise the construction of water storage infrastructures. Comoana did not say where these might be, but the government has previously stated that among its top priorities are new dams at Mpanda Nkua, on the Zambezi river, about 60 kilometres downstream from the existing Cahora Bassa dam, and at Mapai, in the Limpopo basin in the southern province of Gaza.
The plan would promote integrated management of water resources, taking into account the specific nature of each river basin. There would be a portfolio of short, medium and long term projects for the sustainable and efficient exploitation of water resources.
Comoana said the government also intends to invest over 300,000 dollars over the next seven years in implementing the Fourth National Plan for the Advancement of Women, which is intended to promote gender equality.
This plan, Comoana said, will look in detail at how women are excluded from key development sectors. The government hopes that the plan will coordinate inter-sector activities to ensure the empowerment of women.
"The plan seeks to promote gender equality in the political, economic, social and cultural spheres", said Comoana, and was in line with the Sustainable Development Goals for 2015 to 2030 approved by the United Nations.
