The supply of potable water in Angola remains a big challenge
The lack of safe water and toilets has had an enormous impact on Angolan lives
The overwhelming majority of Luanda residents live in squalid shantytowns
The World Bank (WB) has disbursed $150 million to support water and sanitation projects in Angola, state media confirmed.
The state news agency Angop said the projects would cater for an estimated 1.2 million people in Angola's nine provinces.
“It is important to maintain the gains of the improvement of water services because poor quality water causes diseases and poverty,” Angop quoted the WB representative in Angola, Mr Olivier Lambert, as saying.
Angola has a population of 26 million spread across 18 provinces.
Most rainfall
It is one of Africa’s most water-endowed countries and enjoys the most rainfall in southern Africa.
Angola, says the United Nations, has twice as much available water per capita as Zambia or Mozambique, and an estimated 10 times more than South Africa.
However, the supply of potable water in Angola remains a big challenge, the UN adds.
The lack of safe water and toilets has had an enormous impact on Angolan lives, with cholera outbreak and other water borne diseases reported in recent years.
Largest port
Last year, Angola recorded 252 cases of cholera that claimed at least 11 lives in Zaire, Cabinda and Luanda provinces.
The capital Luanda is the country's largest port and is ranked the 22nd filthiest in the world.
During the rainy seasons, the streets of Luanda often become flooded, forming stinking, black rivers that carry the decaying waste into stagnant ponds.
Studies from several agencies, including Unicef and Oxfam, suggest that a large portion of the Luanda population lives in settlements called musseques, built on hardened waste. They do not have access to clean water.
Expensive cities
The Luanda metropolis population is estimated at 6.5 million people.
Though ranked among the world’s most expensive cities, Luanda has for years been a chaotic urban mess.
The overwhelming majority of Luanda residents live in squalid shantytowns with no sanitation or electricity.
