Ministry of Public Works inaugurates drinking water and electricity supply systems in Covalima
The Minister of Public Works, Abel da Silva, inaugurated, on January 13th, 2023, a drinking water supply system in Lela and Hatu villages, Holpilat hamlet, Mauqatar Administrative Post, and access to electricity in Laen-Tolu and Weboot villages, Suai-Loro hamlet, Suai Administrative Post, both in Covalima Municipality.
At the inauguration of the drinking water supply system in Mauqatar, the Minister was accompanied by the President of Bee Timor-Leste (BTL – Tetun acronym), Carlos Peloi dos Reis and the Secretary General of the Timor-Leste Red Cross (CVTL – Portuguese acronym), Luís Pedro Pinto. Likewise, at the inauguration of the access to electricity in Suai, the Minister was accompanied by the Vice President of EDTL, E.P., Humberto Pereira.
The drinking water supply project will benefit 134 households, a total of 617 people. It will also allow drinking water supply to the Border Police Unit (UPF – Portuguese acronym) office in the Lela and Bora hamlets, located on the border of the latter hamlet. In Suai-Loro, there are already over 50 families with access to electricity.
During the inauguration ceremonies, the Minister of Public Works expressed his “satisfaction to the communities that now have access to drinking water and electricity” and conveyed “a message from the Prime Minister, Taur Matan Ruak, for the communities and local leaders to carefully take care of these facilities so that they may last long”.
He also asked the Holpilat community to “use the water carefully, according to their needs and to save it”, as well as to “contribute to the maintenance of these facilities, so that the community may have access to this drinking water for a long time because drinking water is essential for the community's daily life”.
The Minister explained that “the start of the drinking water supply project in the Lela and Hatu villages had the support of the Korean Embassy” and that afterwards, “the budget was complemented by CVTL”. He added that other water supply projects are underway in other parts of the country, which will also be inaugurated soon. During the ceremony, the community was also provided with equipment to maintain the facilities should there be breakdowns in the supply system.
The Vice President of EDTL announced that “the communities that have just had access to electricity, namely the hamlets of Laen-Tolu and Weboot, will be able to use electricity free of charge for six months. After this period, EDTL, E.P. will install pre-paid meters so that the communities can start contributing to the State's revenues, namely to purchase fuel for the operation of the Power Plants in Hera and Betano”.
By the end of December 2022, EDTL had connected electricity to 4,322 families in 66 hamlets, having installed 139.12 km of medium voltage lines and 180 km of low voltage lines, and 30 poles with transformers.
