Africa-Press – Tanzania. ALMOST 80 per cent of Muleba district residents, in Kagera region now have access to clean water, it has been revealed.
Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (RUWASA) engineer for Muleba District, Jerome Patrice said that 508,636 out of 641,998 residents are currently accessing the precious liquid.
He said about 489,889 people in rural areas equivalent to 79.3 percent have access to clean water while in urban areas the service has reached 80.5 per cent of the population.
“We are happy that more efforts are being taken by the government to increase supply of clean water to the people especially those in villages,” he said.
He said the feasibility study of the Lake Victoria Water Supply Project had been completed and its report forwarded to the government.
He explained that the water project estimated to cost 37.076bn/- on completion adding that the project will supply water to among others six wards namely Gwanseli, Magata/Karutanga, Kikuku, Muleba Urban, Bureza and Kagoma.
According to Engineer Patrice, seven water projects under expansion programme are at various stages of implementation. They include Kishoju-Kitoko, Itunzi, Izigo-Bushumba, Ilogero-Kafunjo, Katembe/Nyakabango, Iroba and Bulyakashaju-Kizinga.
He further noted that three water projects were earmarked for implementation during 2020/2021 which include Katare-Buganguzi, which is expected to cost 3.524bn/- upon completion and supply clean water to four villages.
The feasibility study for Kyamyorwa water project, which was estimated to cost 4.521bn/- on completion had already been completed, while the drilling of water bores for Ngenge project which is estimated to cost 220m/- on completion is yet to be implemented.
During her recent tour in the region, Deputy Minister for Water, Engineer Maryprisca Mahundi inspected several water projects including the Rusumo Water Supply project in Ngara district which was being implemented at the cost of 2.7bn/ under the funding of the World Bank (WB).
“The project is marred by corruption. I will personally make a close follow-up to know the exact costs. Some engineers under Ruwasa have been colluding with some consultants to steal the funds which is taxpayers’ money,” the deputy minister was quoted as saying.
Engineer Mahundi cited a project where unnamed Consultant claimed over 40bn/- but later the project was completed at 500m/- using the Force Account.
She explained that the government was keen to ensure that all villages are supplied with clean and safe water. ‘Our target is to ensure that women are relieved the burden of carrying water. The water tanks should be moved closer to their households,’ she was quoted as insisting.
However, she appealed to Tanzanians who access water to pay their bills timely for the sustainability of the water projects. She warned the workers to avoid inflating water bills adding that she recently opposed EWURA’s plan of increasing water tariffs until further notice when an evaluation team completes its task.
She further revealed that the government allocated over 117bn/- to 17 regions facing critical water shortages including Kagera Region which was allocated about 9.7bn/-.
