AfricaPress-Tanzania: THE government has given its go-ahead to the Mbeya Urban Water Supply and sanitation Authority (Mbeya-UWSSA) to begin the 70bn/- Kiwira water project that is expected to solve water woes for Mbeya and Songwe regions.
The project’s implementation will begin in FY 2021/22 and the Authority has been instructed to start groundwork including purchase of equipment to ensure it is completed in the given time.
Water ministry Permanent Secretary Eng. Anthonby Sanga issued the instructions at the weekend during his visit at Kiwira river water source, saying the project would be completed within 24 months beginning July this year.
“We must implement this project and requires a lot of money, now you must begin preparations as when the coming Financial Year starts it has to kick off in order to solve water woes for the residents of the two regions,” he said.
Mbeya-WSSA Managing Director, Gilbert Kayange, said as for now some areas of Mbeya City the water was being rationed due to the insufficient capacity of the water sources.
He added that when completed, the project will completely solve the City’s water woes and extra water would be channeled to other urban centres in Mbeya and Songwe regions, adding that Kiwira River has sufficient water for the purpose.
He promised to immediately start implementing the PS instructions by starting early preparations by purchase of various equipment including water pipes.
Mbeya-WSSA Technical Manager Eng. Barnabas Konga said the water source has the capacity to satisfy water demand for residents of Mbeya City and other towns to be served by the project for a period of 20 years without the need for other water source.
He mentioned other district to benefit from the project as including Rungwe Mbeya and Chunya for Mbeya Region and Mbozi, Momba and Tunduma for Songwe Region.
He said the project will have the capacity to produce 366,000 litres of water per day, and the demand for Mbeya City was only 79,000 cubic metres.
Rungwe District Administrative Secretary Mnkondo Bendera requested the government to ensure all villages in the district along the way of the project to part of those to benefit as they also lacked water service.
