Taraba State Governor Expresses Satisfaction On Water Delivery Project

Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State says when he took over office in 2015, his administration spent 18 months patronizing water vendors in the state.

The Governor, who made this known as he commissions a 5.3 million litres multi-purpose concrete water reservoir in Jalingo, noted with satisfaction that commissioning the reservoir was a fulfillment of promise to the state.

He pointed out that the project which was awarded on October 2020 amidst dwindling financial resources, economic recession, covid-19 and insecurity has recorded success as government was able to commit the sum of N11.4 billion in payment to the contractor.

According to Governor Ishaku, the effort was aimed at reversing the poor rating of Nigeria by the recent world bank survey in 2018 in terms of access to water and sanitation.

He noted that the construction of the water tank would add to the storage capacity of the reservoirs within the metropolis, ready to receive water from the 1200M 3/hr pumping station at Saminaka, river Lamurde and other pumping stations at Karofi and Magami.

Governor Darius called on the private sector and development partners to take advantage of the investment opportunity leveraging on the enabling environment created to render service to humanity and urged Tarabans to support government by way of paying their water bills regularly and protecting water infrastructure within the domain in order to sustain the services.

He applauded the commitment of development partners such as USAID E – WASH, AFDB, JICA, UNICEF, WORLD BANK CSDP among others for their numerous support towards improving water and sanitation services in Taraba State.

Also in an address, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, Godfrey Dame Andrew stated that the project was initiated by governor Darius’s administration aimed at increasing the supply of safe and potable drinking water to the populace.

According to him, initial components of the project include construction of infiltration gallery, construction of raw water supply system and the multi- purpose concrete reservoir, pointing out that government later saw the need to expand the project to accommodate additional works during period under review.

He further disclosed that the state government commitment has paid off, leading to the completion of many projects while other components are at various stages of completion.

Meanwhile, head of engineering team/ permanent secretary, state water agency, Musa Siam had said that the project which was initially conceived in 2016 for period of two years was cut shot due to economic challenges.

He noted that governor Ishaku’s administration saw the need to re-award the contract on October 2020 for N12.4 billion amidst financial constrain across board.

Siam re-iterated Ishaku’s commitment to provision of water in the state, assuring that the ongoing second phase of the project would soon be completed in a record time.

He solicited for support of the public to enable the water agency succeed in the state.

Confidence Okwuchi