ARMSTRONG ALLAHMAGANI, Bauchi –
President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday commissioned the upgraded Bauchi Township Water Supply Scheme which worth about N23.5 billion naira.
NATIONAL ACCORD reports that the World Bank provided 90 percent of the funds while the State government provided the remaining 10 percent counterpart funding.
Represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, at the commissioning of the project at the Gubi Water Treatment Plant in Bauchi, Buhari said the third Urban National Water Sector Reform Project under which the upgrading of the Bauchi Township Water Supply Scheme executed is part of the deliberate strategy of his administration to promote better living for the populace by increasing access to water supply in some selected states including Bauchi.
According to him, the collaborative efforts involving the Bauchi state government, the World Bank and the Federal Government has become a success story as evidenced by the project that he was in the state to commission.
He said that essentially, the federal government, as it is required under the Multi-National Donor Funded Project, provided the Guarantee as well as the critical supervision as well as the oversight through the office of the National Urban Sector Reform Project domiciled in the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.
He said: “I am happy to note that Bauchi State has executed the project creditably. I am not surprised by this accomplishment because the state government personally pursed the project with vigour and determination through allocation of resources intervention to eliminate bottlenecks and challenges including even the COVID-19 which affected the project extension as well as paying attention to details. This is what leaders in the country should emulate from the governor of Bauchi state.
“I know with satisfaction that the Upgraded Bauchi Township Water Scheme has the capacity to supply the water demand of over one million people and I congratulate the good people of Bauchi, my people, for being the beneficiary of this legacy.
Buhari who tasked the Bauchi state government to ensure that the culture of infrastructure maintenance is imbeded in the management of the facility for the long term benefits of the people of the state, urged the people to ensure the sustainability and ownership of the project and “one way this ownership can be expressed is by paying for the services of being offered to the people to enhance the sustainability.”
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Governor Bala Mohammed, in his speech said that the water Supply is an important component of service delivery of every responsible government noting that the result of all this is the overstretching of public utilities, including water supply; saying that the situation in Bauchi is compounded by the dilapidated infrastructure his administration met on assumption of office.
He said that the water supply schemes in most communities were either operating in an epileptic manner or completely broken down.
The metropolitan Bauchi, according to him, has, for a long time, been bedeviled by scarcity of potable water with its population growing in leaps and bounds, largely because of the relative peace it enjoys noting that the last time water supply infrastructure in the metropolis was upgraded was about 31 years ago.
“The 1992 expansion work, was meant to meet the water demand of the metropolis up to the year 2005. However, the expansion did not come until now, some 14 years after. This is a challenge typical of developing nations where investment in infrastructure lags behind demand.
“My Government inherited the Third National Urban Water Sector Reform Project, a World Bank supported Project initiated by your good Government and our predecessors. The project commenced in 2015 with Bauchi State as one of the selected beneficiary states, as a key measure to address the water shortage challenge in Bauchi metropolis. It was to realize this noble object that on assumption of office my administration pursued the Project with vigor.
“Consequently, in our avowed determination to ensure continuity and dynamism in governance, we flagged off the various construction activities under the Project, which hitherto had been dormant due to lack of political will.
“Another issue that we had to contend with was the lull in the execution of the Project due to late commencement of the procurement process and eventual impact of COVID-19 which all negatively impacted with the World Bank timelines on the project. I personally spearheaded the request for the extension of the Project period to compensate for the time lost as most manufacturing companies overseas were shut down and shipment came to a standstill,” he said.
Mohammed reiterated the avowed commitment of his administration to service delivery in general and water supply in particular stressing that Government will do all within its powers and available resources to resuscitate the hitherto moribund water supply facilities in all the communities within the State.
He said that to this end, the government has commenced the resuscitation of most of the moribund water supply schemes in the Local Government areas, particularly the urban centres with the construction of a dedicated powerline from Azare to the waterworks that serves both Azare and Jama’are towns.
According to him, providing a dedicated powerline to the waterworks will ensure quality power supply from the national grid which in turn will enhance the supply of water with the project which is ongoing to be completed soon.
He added that there is also the design and construction for the supply of water in Ningi and Dass towns as well as the design and provision of water in all headquarters of Local Governments of the State with the pilot project commencing in Alkaleri LGA.
The governor appreciated the Federal Government for its support to Bauchi State towards uplifting the standard of living of its people noting that the Project being commissioning would not have been possible without the sovereign guarantee and selection of the State as a beneficiary by the Buhari administration.
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