Águas de Portugal steps up technical assistance to the Angolan water sector

In Uíge province, AdPI will provide technical assistance to the local water supply management body in a project financed by Angola National Water Supply and Sanitation Department. It will last for a year and is aimed at ensuring the operation of water supply systems on an economically and financially sustainable basis. Additional goals of the contract include drawing up an investment programme to increase the level of coverage and improve the operational standards of the province water supply systems and identifying training needs to ensure that Uíge own human resources have the required management capacities.

AdPI was also awarded a three-month contract to draw up a roadmap for creating and establishing a water and sanitation company for Cunene province. This project is being financed by the German development agency GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit) and began in June.

The award of these contracts reflects the AdP Group strategy of consolidating its activities in Angola through its subsidiary AdP Angola. In this context, the award of a €5 million contract to provide technical assistance to Angola National Water and Sanitation Department is of special note. The contract, which will run for three and a half years, involves a partnership between Águas de Portugal, the company Ogimatech Portugal and the non-governmental development organisation TESE. Financed by the European Development Fund as part of European Union aid to Angola, the contract forms part of a programme for supporting the institutional development of the Angolan water sector. It is aimed at making essential water services more effective and sustainable with a view to improving living standards in Angola and meeting the Millennium Development Goals for water and sanitation.

As part of the activities that AdP has been developing in Angola, the Group recently concluded a consultancy project on preparing a Water and Sanitation Master Plan for the municipality of Kilamba Kiaxi. It also recently completed providing consultancy services to Angola Environment Ministry on developing a National Environmental Sanitation Policy. The United Nations Development Programme (UNPD) financed both projects.

AdP has been providing technical support for Angola water supply systems for several years through projects based mainly on international cooperation initiatives and technical assistance. Examples include technical support for ensuring water supplies to the cities of Luanda and Benguela in 1997 and 1998, through a contract financed by the World Bank; a technical assistance contract with EPAL-Luanda involving the commercial and maintenance departments and support from Geographic Information Systems; a project for expanding the network of drinking-water fountains in Luanda and assistance in structuring the respective management body.

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