Luanda – Luanda's Public Water Company (EPAL) reaffirmed its commitment to improve and increase, this year, the supply of the precious liquid to the country's capital, with the technological and electromechanical re-equipment of its treatment and distribution stations.
According to the company's director of Communication, Marketing and Institutional Relations, Vladimir Henda Bernardo, this plan is part of the 2023/2027 strategy, which also foresees the installation of prepaid meters in all centralities and urbanizations in the capital city as well as in “large customers”.
Vladimir Henda Bernardo told ANGOP in Luanda that by next March, the installation of meters will begin in the centralities of Kilamba, Sequele, Zango 8 thousand and in the Mayé Mayé urbanization, he announced.
Vladimir Henda Bernardo indicated that, on an experimental basis, prepaid meters have already been set up in 2023 in large consumers (condominiums and business segment) and in centralities such as Kilamba, KK 5000, Zango 8 thousand and Kilometer 44 (km 44).
He clarified that the intention is to avoid waste and maintain better control of customer bills, to improve the company's treasury and bring more water to families.
From the first quarter of this year onwards, he said, EPAL will outsource the billing and redistribution process, similar to what authorized ENDE (National Electricity Distribution Company) agents do.
“We will proceed with the competition to organize agencies in several neighborhoods, with a view to creating greater proximity with licensing customers and agents, to help with supply and collection of customer consumption billing”, he emphasized.
Improvement actions in 2023
Still within the framework of improving supply and minimizing water shortages in some neighborhoods of Luanda, EPAL carried out new connections, network reconnections and interconnections of existing pipelines, in different areas of Luanda.
In this chapter, he highlighted, new pipelines were launched and hydraulic devices (valves) were installed that made it possible to supply some areas, on alternate days, taking into account the production deficits to meet Luanda's current needs, estimated at more than three million cubic meters of water.
As an example, he presented the municipality of Kilamba Kiaxi, where the interconnection of pipelines and the opening of valves “resulted in over nine thousand connections”, in some sectors of the urban district of Sapú (8 and 9) and in the subzones (10 to 19) of the urban district of Golf.
In turn, he continued, the municipality of Viana benefited from a pipeline measuring 315 millimeters in diameter and three kilometers long, and a “booster” (hydropressure equipment for boosting), which allowed water to be delivered to around 10,000 connections. house arrests, carried out in Mirú, Mamã Gorda, Mulenvos de Cima.
Vladimir Bernardo added that, in December, EPAL interconnected ducts at Condomínio Vida Pacífica to supply the reservoirs that are benefiting 10 buildings, totaling 1,120 apartments in zone-2 of the aforementioned centrality.
Likewise, in the same district, families in buildings in blocks 6,7,8 and 11, which had been without water for more than two years, “already consume water from the mains”.
Almost at the same time, water was restored to 125 residences that, due to road rehabilitation work, had been without water for around eight months, on Rua Cidade de Beja in the Popular neighborhood.
Likewise, in Cacuaco, the Sequele Centrality, the Mayé Mayé Urbanization, Panguila, Vila de Cacuaco and Mulenvos de Baixo and surrounding areas saw their water supply improved, “significantly”, with the entry into operation of phase three of the Candelabro Water Treatment Plant (ETA).
The station went from the previous 120 thousand cubic meters per day to 210 thousand cubic meters per day.
Currently, EPAL's customer base stands at 410 thousand customers, of which around 400 thousand are individuals and the remaining 10 thousand are in the commerce, industry, services and government segments.
To make life easier for customers when paying for consumption, EPAL has a network of 21 physical branches, a virtual branch and 13 collection points, in addition to electronic means such as ATM, Express money transfer, Internet Banking, Aki Paga, Aki and authorized agents, he explained.
According to Vladimir Bernardo, customers also have the possibility of negotiating their debt, to deal with the high number of consumers who present accumulated bills, creating enormous inconvenience for the company and putting the regular supply of the precious liquid at risk.
“The lack of regular payment jeopardizes the functioning of infrastructures for capturing, producing and distributing drinking water”, asserted the Director of Communications.
In other words, the aim is to have a greater focus on commercial airlines to achieve self-sustainability, with the agency of neighborhoods, to create greater proximity to customers, through licensed agents who will help with supply and revenue control.
More than half of Luanda without water
Currently, the population of the Angolan capital with access to tap water is estimated at close to 40%, while the other part depends on alternatives such as tanker trucks and standpipes.
To reverse the situation, two “large projects” are under development, called systems 4 (Bita) and 5 (Quilonga), with the capacity to produce 750 thousand cubic meters of water per day.
This production will make up 1,500 cubic meters of water per day, enough to meet the needs of more than seven million families, explains Henda Bernardo.
The “Bita” system will have 100,000 cubic meters of storage, 65 kilometers of pipelines, 3,700 kilometers of distribution network and 170,000 household connections to supply 3,800 people.
The beneficiaries will be the inhabitants of the south and southeast of Luanda, in the municipality of Belas, districts of Quenguela, Vila Verde, Cabolombo, Ramiros, Morro dos Veados, as well as some areas of Benfica and Camama.
In turn, system five, known as “Quilonga Grande”, will derive 518,000 cubic meters of water per day to serve the North and Northeast zone of Luanda, in the municipalities of Viana, Icolo and Bengo and Cacuaco.
The two systems, currently in the initial phase, have a duration of 36 months, to enter into operation by 2026.
Alongside these two major projects, the PROÁGUA project is also about to start, which will reinforce EPAL's operational capacity over the next three years.
This project aims to increase production in existing systems, improve the water distribution network and optimize operation, with the reduction of network losses, associated with the operational improvement of customer management, increased revenue and technology transfer. OPF/AC/IZ/DOJ
