By Praise Chinecherem
Anambra State government has assured residents of the state of access to steady and portable water supply come March next year.
Managing Director, State Urban Water Supply Asset Holding Corporation, Ikeobi Ejiofor who disclosed this in a chat with newsmen, said plans were on to rehabilitate major water schemes hitherto moribund across the state.
He said Governor Chukwuma Soludo’s campaign promise of steady water supply across the state remained one of his major key deliverables particularly in view of its health implications.
He canvassed support from federal government, private sector and other stakeholders to ensure the vision was realized.
He said, “Government has intentions to concessioning the major water schemes because we need to involve the private sector to ensure demand driven project.
“Originally, we have the Greater Onitsha Water Scheme, Greater Awka Water Scheme, Nnewi Urban Water Scheme, Otuocha Anambra East Water Scheme, among other semi urban water scheme scattered all over the state.
“The few interventions by previous administrations didn’t yield the desired results due to lack of management structure. More or less, we’re starting afresh; reason we’re investing much to ensure quick fix to these moribund schemes.
“We’ll also look at possibility of having investors manage the scheme in a sustainable manner so government won’t continue spending much on water which is both a social service and commercial product. There must be a balance.
“We’re engaging consultants to revalidate the assessments and start procurement processes. We also called for government assistance in rehabilitating some of the major water schemes.
“We’ve keyed into the federal government programmes, including the Sustainable Urban WASH programme which is already in the second tier.
“During our last visit to Abuja, we made requests for federal government major intervention in the Greater Onitsha Water Scheme, Nkisi and Amansea, those we believe will cost us much money.
“For a long time, federal government hasn’t been investing in water sector in the state. We’re calling on the New Minister for Water Resources to assist us because the population is growing, second to Lagos.
“Our plan is that after the project design and procurement processes are completed for the rehabilitation of the major water schemes, including 64 rural water schemes, 12 semi urban water schemes and 5 major urban water schemes, by March next year, there will be a quick transformation in the water supply.
“We also started a precursor to our master plan which is the hydrological survey mapping of the state which is ongoing. By the time it’s completed, we’ll have a proper water supply master plan for the state to ensure a clearer road map.
“By next year March, most of the existing water schemes must have been reactivated before we start talking about expansion. We want to get it to where it should have been severel years ago.”
