The Federal Executive Council on Wednesday approved the sum of N8.4 billion for the construction of a dam at the Damaturu Water Supply project in Yobe State, North-East Nigeria.
The Minister of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu disclosed this while briefing State House Correspondents on decisions reached at this week’s meeting of the council, chaired by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Minister said the approval would help address water supply challenges in the State, caused mainly by insurgency.
“I presented a memo for the construction of Damaturu water supply project in Yobe State in favour of three contractors at a total sum of N8.43 billion. The contracts divided into three are all groundwater or borehole-based projects spread over a wide distance because they are covering three major cities.
“They will be mostly solar-based and also they are in response to the critical needs of these localities within Yobe State, especially as they have been suffering a lot because these areas affected by the boko haram insurgency which started several years ago and therefore, we need to support their water supply needs.
“These are high Sahelian region where surface water is difficult to come by so we hope that by this intervention, the water supply in these locations would be greatly enhanced,” the Minister explained.
Adamu said the project has a completion period of twenty-four months.
PIAK
