Kuito, Angola, 14 Oct – Around 400,000 people living in the city of Kuito, the capital of Angola’s Bié province, will as of 2009 have access to drinking water, the provincial director for energy and water, Anabela Caiovo Gunga told Angolan news agency Angop.

Chinese company Sino-Hidro has been carrying out construction of the new water supply and treatment system since the beginning of the year, at an estimated cost of US$20 million.

Caiovo Gunga said that the Chinese company was concluding construction of a water distribution tank, the water storage station and the water treatment area.

The provincial director for energy and water also said that, the company was installing the water distribution network in some neighbourhoods on the outskirts of Kuito.

Currently the inhabitants of Kuito are supplied via the old water storage and treatment system, which is in a poor state of repair. (macauhub)