In the National Development Strategy announced in July 2011, Timor-Leste has set a goal of achieving 24-hour water supply in the urban areas of Dili City and 12 provinces to ensure that all citizens have access to safe water by 2030. However, in order to achieve 24-hour water supply, many issues remain, such as malfunctions of water treatment plants and pumping facilities operated and maintained by the Department of Waterworks (DNSA) of the Ministry of Public Works, aging pipelines and leaks, lack of human resources for operation, maintenance, and management, and improvement of the fee collection system. In response to these issues, Japan has been cooperating in the country’s waterworks projects through grant aid in the 2000s and technical cooperation projects and dispatch of experts since 2008, and some districts are now supplying water 24 hours a day. Under these circumstances, the Ministry of Public Works (MOPW) has been working to improve the water supply sector by transforming the water supply business into a public corporation and reorganizing it, and in January 2021, the water supply business was transferred from DNSA to the East Timor Water Supply Corporation (BTL). As a result, the foundation for waterworks management is being put in place, but there are still many issues to be addressed, including facility operation and maintenance management, fee collection, and human resource development, in order to solidify its footing as a public corporation. This cooperation will strengthen BTL’s capacity for human resource development, customer management, water service monitoring, and maintenance management, and will lay the groundwork for improving BTL’s business operations, thereby contributing to the improvement of water supply services in Dili.
© Source JICA