ADDIS ABABA-Various activities are carried out in collaboration with development partners to realize Ethiopia’s full accessibility of potable water and energy supplies by 2030, the Ministry of Water and Energy (MoWE) said.
MoWE Minister Habtamu Itefa (PhD-Eng.) made the above statement yesterday while addressing a half day discussion with development partners aiming at addressing various challenges in the sector through a combined force.
The main aim of the discussion is said to formulate the plan together with development partners, evaluate the sector’s performance, identify the real problems and direct the relevant solution to utilize the resource in an efficient and proper manner. In this regard, Ethiopia will conduct two discussion forums in a year to bridge the water and energy resources gap.
Habtamu (PhD|) further stated that the society’s discrete settlement and power line limitation are serious challenges in reducing energy accessibility. Besides, climate change has significantly reduced the volume of ground and surface water.
“Currently, some 71 million people (68 percent of the total population of Ethiopia) have access to potable water though it varies in one place from the other. The MoWE is working tirelessly to provide clean water for six million citizens in the current fiscal year including conflict impacted areas.”
To end the problem, the government appreciates the involvement of the private sector and partners in the issue and it will allow the duty free importation of drilling machines for ground water, the Minister remarked.
MoWE Minister’s Senior Advisor Mechaiel Maheri (PhD) said on the occasion that the ministry is closely working with development partners in different areas including the provision of potable water, sanitation, and water resource management.
Mechaiel (PhD) also stated that World Bank (WB) is the major development partner to address the aforementioned challenges whilst UNICEF focuses on humanitarian assistance especially in areas that were affected by drought, conflict, flood, and the likes. “Though the development partners have been contributing a lot to reduce various problems, the redundancy in similar areas remains a serious challenge. To address such a problem, the Ministry attempts to draw more energy and organize and lead in the response in a cooperative manner.”
The MoWE will also continue its engagement to create an enabling environment to the development partners through facilitating and establishing smooth relationships from the Federal to the district levels, he reiterated.
In the discussion, the WB, UNICEF, JICA, representatives from Netherlands and Denmark embassies as well as AfDB were in attendance.
BY MESERET BEHAILU
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD TUESDAY 23 APRIL 2024
