Mozambique this week awarded its first water privatisation concession to cover seven of the country’s largest cities to the consortium Aguas de Mocambique (ADM), news reports said.
The US $117 million donor-funded contract is for the upgrading and extension of water supplies in Maputo, Beira, and the major provincial capitals of Quelimane, Nampula and Pemba. It also commercialises water services in Matola and Dondo. The consortium will be granted a full commercial concession for between 5-15 years. Water privatisation is a controversial condition of the International Monetary Fund’s Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility for Mozambique.
The government has attempted to allay labour fears that there will be retrenchments among the country 850 water workers as a result of commercialisation. ADM is headed by the French water operator Saur International, and includes the Portuguese company IPE-Aguas de Portugal and the Mozambican Mazi-Mozambique consortium.
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