AfricaPress-Tanzania: WATER ministry will save over 43bn/- upon contracting local companies to implement 192 water projects countrywide.
That was said yesterday by the Minister, Jumaa Aweso, while addressing a gathering where President John Magufuli was launching Isaka-Kagongwa water project in Shinyanga region.
Mr Aweso further said: “In ensuring that we save money, we have done assessment and resolved that we would implement water projects using our local experts to implement 192 projects.”
The minister noted the ministry established that it would spend163bn/- if it deploys local experts instead of 207bn/- if it hires foreign experts in the same schemes.
“We have learnt that sometimes we get wrong engineering estimates for projects, for instance one is valued 6.5bn/- by foreign contractors only for us (locals) to implement it at 1.5bn/-.“Let me encourage you honorable President that this is the direction of the ministry of water,” he told Dr Magufuli.
Mr Aweso noted that the ministry has implemented a total of 1423 projects in the five years of the first term of President Magufuli.
Giving the project overview, Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Anthony Sanga said scheme construction began in 2015 and took only 24 months to be completed.
Although the initial cost estimates for the project was 24.7bn/-, only 23.1bn/- was spent during implementation.
The project has the capacity to produce 9.8 million litres of water per day and serve the residents for 20 years.
“We thank local contractors in implementing these projects, however it is unfortunate that few of them have been recruiting payment claim specialists instead of water experts…we in the ministry have agreed that such tendency is unacceptable,” he said.
A lawmaker for Kahama Urban, Mr Jumanne Kishimba, was grateful that the government has fulfilled its promise of bringing water to the area to benefit over 100,000 residents, adding that with population increase about 400,000 of them will also benefit from it in the next four years.
“We thank you very much President Magufuli for putting the pledge into action,” Mr Kishimba said.
On her part, Dr Christine Ishengoma, chairperson of the Parliamentary Committee on agriculture, livestock and water said President Magufuli pledged and acted.
“During election campaigns in 2015 President Magufuli promised to implement this project and today we witness the launch of the completed project,” Dr Ishengoma stated.
She assured that her committee would continue working closely with the water ministry by giving advice so that more Tanzanians get clean and safe water.
The Isaka-Kagongwa major water project pumps water from Lake Victoria to small towns of Kagongwa and Isaka in Shinyanga region, thus addressing water woes to residents of the towns.
