Africa-Press – Uganda. Leaders in Greater Masaka area have tasked the government to explain the delayed construction of a multi-billion water project, which was expected to commence three years ago.
The Masaka-Mbarara water expansion project, which is worth Euro 120m (about Shs479b), was unveiled in May 2019. This is part of the grant from the French Development Agency (FDA) to support technical assistance for the implementation of works under the Ministry of Water and Environment and the National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC).
The project had been expected to start in August 2020 but it has failed to take off to date.
Local leaders say the delay to roll out the project has retarded the economic growth of the region, especially on projects which require enough water such as fish processing.
“Our hope was in that project since we have abundant water in Lake Victoria but we are seeing nothing going on and no government official is giving us an update,” Mr Patrick Kintu Kisekulo, the Kyotera District chairperson, said in an interview at the weekend.
Mr Samuel Kaggwa Ssekamwa, the Rakai District chairperson, said many of the villages in Rakai are water-stressed and their only hope was in the new project.
“…it’s a shame that we continue to share water with animals. If that project doesn’t go on as promised, it will be an uphill task to campaign for Mzee [Museveni] in the 2026 elections,” he said.
Mr Ibrahim Kitatta, the chairperson of Lwengo District, said many families in villages such as Kengwe, Kiteredde, Busimbi, Bamunanika and Kitongole spend several hours daily trekking long distances to access clean water.
“Our district is partly semi-arid and accessing clean water is a big challenge. Some residents spend more than three hours every day searching for clean water, some travel 10km to access water,” he said. The district chairman said some residents forego bathing for some days as a result of lack of water.
A study conducted by Makerere University Institutional Repository in 2021 in the sub-counties of Kyazanga and Malongo revealed that there was only one reliable and all-season water source. According to the survey, schools were mostly affected, with pupils spending substantial school time looking for water to use at the school.
Available records at the district’s water department show that Lwengo has 1,471 domestic water points, which serve a total of 210,844 residents. The district has only 15 functioning valley dams and 149 boreholes. A total of 301 water points have been non-functional for more than five years and are considered abandoned.
Mr Samuel Apedel, the spokesperson of NWSC, said the government is still going through different stages to make sure residents in the targeted areas get water as they wait for donor funding.
“If government has not funded the project and is relying on donor funding, we don’t expect the processes to move the way we want because these people (donors) at times have some criteria different from what we would expect,” he said.
He further explained that “government is ready to expand water services in the different districts of Greater Masaka due to the increasing population”.
ABOUT PROJECT
Under the project, water is expected to be pumped from both Lake Victoria and River Kagera to supply various towns in Greater Masaka and Mbarara area. According to NWSC plan, the existing water and sanitation infrastructure will be upgraded, expanded and developed in different urban centres of Masaka, Mbarara and Isingiro. Small towns to benefit from the project include; Lukaya, Butende, Bukulula, Kyamulibwa, Mbirizi, Kyazanga and Bukanga. Others are Katovu ,Sanga and Kazo.
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