On March 7, the Minister of Public Works, Gastão de Sousa, and the representative from Águas de Portugal Timor-Leste (AdP Timor Leste), Tiago Ribeiro, signed a cooperation agreement under the Master Plan for Sanitation and Drainage for Dili.

Effective from March 24 onwards, the contract signed between the Ministry of Public Works (MoPW) and AdP Timor-Leste is valid for 6 months, with a forecasted budget of approximately two million and four hundred thousand dollars.

ADP Timor-Leste shall be responsible for the institutional capacitation of the personnel from the National Directorate of Basic Sanitation, as well as the development of topographic and hydraulic studies and engineering projects for drainage and sanitation (including various technical drawings), thus initiating the second implementation phase of this Master Plan.

It may be recalled that the Drainage and Sanitation Master Plan for Dili, which was presented by the Ministry in partnership with Melbourne Water and Yarra Valley Water, was approved at the Council of Ministers Meeting, on October 24, 2012.

According to Minister Gastão de Sousa, “this is the second implementation phase of the Sanitation and Drainage Master Plan for the city of Dili. To implement this project, namely regarding the drainage component, the Government is considering asking for a loan from the Chinese Government”.