7271. Water4Nampula - Mozambique - D2B17MZ08

The Water4Nampula project involves the rehabilitation and expansion of the water supply to the towns of Nametil, Malema, Namialo and Namapa in Nampula Province. Invest International supports this project by funding the required feasibility and environmental and social studies.  For each of the four towns, an ESIA scoping study (EPDA)/ToR for the final ESIA has been prepared. Invest International requested that the NCEA independently review these EPDAs/ToR. Once these are approved by Mozambican authorities and Invest International, the project will move to the next phase in which the final designs and the full ESIAs will be developed.

Advisory reports and other documents

Significant details

In April 2018 the NCEA checked the ToR for tender for this project against the Mozambican requirements for ESIA, and advised on how to accommodate procedural requirements in project development activities and decision making. 

In July 2021, the NCEA issued an advisory report on the EPDAs/ToR for Nametil and Namapa. Invest International subsequently shared the NCEA advisory report with the request to the consultant to respond to the NCEA recommendations and improve the scoping reports accordingly. The updated EPDAs/ToRs for Nametil and Namapa and the new ones for Malema and Namialo were submitted for NCEA review in November 2021. The NCEA advisory report for all four EPDAs/ToR was issued in December 2021.

The NCEA concludes that the quality of all four EPDAs is insufficient for sound decision making. An essential shortcoming is that during parts of the year the current river flow and storage volume is insufficient for Nametil, meaning that the system will have no water then. The same will potentially be the case for Namialo and Malema. When that happens, the effects on the water users in Nametil, Namialo and Malema, as well as on the downstream water users are expected to be grave. Effects can also impact biodiversity, ecosystems and living natural resources and in turn, livelihoods that depend on these resources. This is currently not addressed in any of the EPDAs. Without clarity on the issue, it will be hard to move decision making on the projects - and the ESIAs - forward in a justifiable way.
For Namapa there is no problem as the Lurio river contains sufficient water all year round.

Other shortcomings relate to land use and landownership, potential resettlement issues, and the fact that findings from the EPDAs are not properly reflected in the ToR for the full ESIA.

Parties involved

Members of the working group

Chair: Tanya van Gool
Technical secretary: Ineke Steinhauer

Further details

Country: Mozambique

Last modified: 19 Dec 2023