Access to water and the sustainable management of the country’s water resources are the priority objectives of the Government of Angola and its Minister of Energy and Water, João Baptista Borges. Around 40 percent of the Angolan population, estimated to be more than 15 million inhabitants, still have no access to drinking water in optimal conditions for consumption. This situation has led the State to create the National Water Council, a permanent consultative body dependent on the President of the Republic, João Lourenço, whose objective is to plan and manage water resources and their sustainability. Currently, the distribution of drinking water to the population has become one of the main priorities of the government, whose purpose for the next five years is to increase the access rate in urban areas to 85% and to 80% in large rural areas.
Numerous water infrastructure projects will be implemented in the next few years and, many of them in the province of Luanda, followed by Bengo, Malanje, Benguela and Huila, having taken into account the population density, road infrastructure, electricity …
In terms of the country’s vulnerability to the impacts of climate change, the Cunene region counts with several million people affected by the drought. The need and urgency of developing water supply projects in this region is impending, in order to leave emergencies and water crises behind, caused by the lack of rain and extreme drought.
Within the engineering sector, ICP Consulting works with our Angolan partners, the engineering company SETM, in the development and implementation of projects aimed to improve access and water management in the country. As a result of this work, it is worth highlighting the interest in water purification projects and emergency systems in the regions of Benguela and Cunene, which will avoid extreme events and improve access to drinking water in areas where there is no access at all.
