Australia has approved $17.25 million for Mozambique over the next two years for improvements to the water infrastructure in two municipalities namely Ilha de Mozambique and Mocimboa de Praia in the north, the Australian government said on Wednesday in a press statement.
Australia says this assistance forms part of a $300 million global commitment which the Australian Government made in 2008 to assist partner countries meet the Millennium Development Goal regarding access to clean water and effective sanitation.
“As part of this three-year global commitment, an amount of $61million was earmarked for Africa. The Australian assistance to Mozambique will be coordinated through the World Bank,” the statement said.
It is estimated that 51 percent of people living in Sub-Saharan countries do not have access to a supply of clean water and 41 percent lack adequate sanitation.
A major development challenge for African governments is to provide their populations with access to safe drinking water.
“I’m delighted to say that the Australian funds will not only be helping to increase water services to these smaller towns, but through related training and technical inputs, we will also be leaving lasting technical skills that will make these improvements sustainable,” reads the statement.
Skills training is an important dimension of the Australian Government’s development cooperation program in Africa. Under this particular program, $250,000 will be spent on the training of Mozambican water technicians in Brazilian technical institutions.
In addition, under the Australian Government Scholarships Programme for Africa, 18 post-graduate students have been selected to study in Australia.
Six of the Scholarship recipients will be undertaking Masters degree studies in water resource, environmental and natural resource management from 2011.
Source African Press Agency
African News from NetNewsPublisher.com
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