Clean and safe drinking water for 1.5 million people in Malawi
On Thursday 30 July 2009, Vitens Evides International signed a contract for an extensive drinking water development project in Malawi. The project was awarded on the basis of the technical quality of the proposal. Vitens Evides International and its partners Waterleiding Maatschappij Limburg (WML), advice and engineering consultants DHV and the international health organisation Simavi will be working together closely to improve the drinking water supply in two large cities.
Water provision
Work will start at the end of 2009. During the next four years, Vitens Evides International will be working together with its Dutch partners and the local drinking water companies of the capital city Lilongwe and Blantyre, which is the largest city in Malawi, to improve the supply of affordable, sustainable and reliable drinking water to these cities’ approx. 1.5 million inhabitants. The project also involves the expansion of the drinking water supply to 700,000 people in the poorer areas of the cities. The contract involving € 3.85 million will be financed by the European Union and the European Investment Bank (EIB). The various partners will work closely together and each have their own specific focus. Vitens Evides International and WML will support the water companies with regard to organisation, finance, planning, water loss control, network modelling, customer administration, management and maintenance and energy-savings. DHV is responsible for carrying out the EUR 22 million investment programme. Simavi will be supporting the Malawian drinking water companies in setting up so-called water kiosks. Simavi will also assist in establishing a policy to ensure that employees who are infected with HIV/AIDS can continue to work.
A strong form of collaboration
Director of Vitens Evides International Gerhard van den Top is proud of the new contract: “In Malawi we will be working closely with the Water Boards in both towns. By sharing the knowledge and experience of the Dutch water sector with the local water companies, we hope to structurally improve the water supply and water quality for the inhabitants. And as a strong consortium of drinking water companies, engineering consultants and a health organisation, we can give a good example of a strong form of collaboration.”
Malawi
Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world. The absence of minerals, the lack of a seaport, the one-sided focus on growing tea and tobacco on plantations, together with the low education level of the population are the reasons for the poor economic situation. Drinking water supplies in the country are also minimal. Most people fetch their water from lakes and rivers, at a significant risk to health. Fetching water also takes a great deal of time - time that they could otherwise spend on education and development. With the project, Vitens Evides International, WML, DHV and Simavi hope to improve this situation so that more people have access to clean drinking water.