Africa-Press – Tanzania. UPON completion of the ongoing climate resilient water supply scheme project in Simiyu Region, about 700,000 people will benefit, the House was told yesterday.
Implemented by the Ministry of Water, the project seeks to tap water from Lake Victoria to the districts of Busega, Bariadi and Itilima in the region.
Deputy Minister for Water, Engineer Kundo Mathew told the National Assembly yesterday that President Samia Suluhu Hassan had already agreed to provide 400bn/- for the implementation of the project.
He was responding to a supplementary question posed by Special Seats legislator, Minza Mjika who had expressed her dismay over the project, charging that it had kept on dilly-dallying for many years, seeking the government’s intervention.
So far, according to Eng Mathew, the project was ongoing with phase I of the project taking shape, expressing optimism that upon completion, the residents in the residents will breathe a sigh of relief from the long-term burden of water woes.
Aiming to improve access to safe water and sanitation facilities in rural and urban areas in the region, the project is financed and built in two phases, and will eventually cover about 20 per cent of Simiyu’s total area, including district centres and about 250 villages with up to 55 per cent of the region’s total population.
In the project details, Phase I will bring piped water to the townships of Nyashimo, Bariadi and Lagangabilili as well as to villages located up to a distance of 12 kilometres from the water supply main lines, while Phase II is expected to extend the water supply to Mwanhuzi and Maswa.
In his main question, Igunga MP, Nicholaus Ngassa had sought to know when the Lake Victoria Water Project to the wards of Mwamashiga, Mbutu, Isakamaliwa, Kining’inila Mwamakona, Igurubi and Kinungu will be completed.
According to the deputy minister, the government is continuing with the expansion of the Lake Victoria Water Project from the village of Igogo to Igurubi in the Igunga district of the Tabora Region.
“The activities being carried out through this project include the construction of one water tank with a capacity of 1,000,000 litres and the laying of pipes over a distance of 150 kilometres, along with the construction of 57 water collection centres,’’ he said.
According to Engineer Kundo, the implementation of this project has reached an average of 60 per cent and is expected to be completed in December 2025, benefiting 71,726 residents living in 18 villages within the seven wards of Mwamashiga, Mbutu, Isakamaliwa, Kining’inila, Mwamakona, Igurubi and Kinungu.
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