Águabrava foresees “important investments” in the water supply sector in the Fogo/Brava region

The Intermunicipal Water Company (Águabrava) foresees for this year “important investments” in the water supply sector on the islands of Fogo and Brava, said the administrator/delegate, Rui Évora.

At the level of Fogo Island, the company will continue to reinforce the introduction of photovoltaic energy in the process of capturing and abducting water, with a view to building “another five or six solar parks”, which will reduce costs with conventional energy. in the order of 20 to 25 percent (%).

The construction of the photovoltaic parks represents an investment in the order of PTE 30 thousand, and the company will have co-financing from the Luxembourg Cooperation for the installation of two parks and the rest will be assumed by the company itself.

With the materialization of investments in this sector, Águabrava will have 13 photovoltaic parks for the production of solar energy for the water exploitation and distribution system.

In addition to the construction of solar parks, Águabrava will carry out the contract to improve the management conditions of the system for capturing and withdrawing water stock for irrigation in the south area of Fogo Island, a project budgeted at around 40 million escudos and financed by the Government of Cape Verde.

The amount of this project could reach 60 thousand escudos, explained Rui Évora, due to its reformulation and revision, and the interventions will be centralized in terms of holes for capturing groundwater, pipelines and lifts and reservoirs for water storage. , creating the conditions for the management and supply of water for agriculture and livestock in the southern part of the island.

Another action included in the investment package for 2020 is the supply of water to Ponta Verde de Cima (north of São Filipe), budgeted at around 15 million escudos, and which will be supported by the Government of Cape Verde in partnership with Águabrava and São Filipe town hall, with works expected to start in the first quarter of 2020 and expected to last six months.

Another “much expected” investment in the water supply sector and considered important by the administrator/delegate, is the abduction of water to Campanas de Cima from Lomba, a project budgeted at around 70 million escudos and which will be financed by Águabrava, with the contribution of the council of São Filipe.

The start of this project is scheduled for the first half of 2020, according to Rui Évora.

For Brava Island, the construction of a desalination unit with a capacity of 300 cubic meters per day is foreseen, to overcome the current situation of water deficit to supply the population, thus covering the island's growing demand, said Rui Évora.

The same source indicated that this project should be financed by Luxembourg Cooperation, with the participation of the Government, Águabrava and Brava City Council, in the global amount of two million, six hundred thousand euros, around 290 million escudos.

Also for Ilha Brava, the construction of the Furna water desalination unit will be completed within four months, at the most, which will allow the production of around 20 cubic meters per day, completely powered by solar energy and a global production using conventional energy, in the order of 60 cubic meters/day which, according to Rui Évora, will be enough to satisfy the demand of the population of Furna.

In addition to these investments considered to be the most important, Águabrava's administrator/delegate indicated that other achievements will be carried out in 2020 in the water exploration sector.

Thus, he pointed out that the company's budget for the economic year of 2020 is around 220 million escudos and that in order to carry out part of the planned investments, the company will have to resort to a bank loan in the amount of 150 million escudos.