Ifeoma gave the background to #ClaimYourWaterRights as a global campaign supported by End water poverty with Hope Spring leading the project in Nigeria and Enugu as the pioneer state. The campaign mobilises and sensitizes everyone irrespective of their status, age, gender e,t,c to claim their water right and demanding for it. Engagements have been made with several communities and key stakeholders in Enugu water board.
One of the past interviews with the special adverse to the government on water resources spoke on how the government is working towards putting an end to water scarcity in Enugu, he also spoke on the ongoing water project supported by French Development agency also known as AFD worth about 50 Million US Dollar. The radio program is meant to review the project and ensure people claim their water rights.
What is the AFD project and what’s the project scope?
Engineer Charles explained that the AFD is a credit facility given by the French government to Enugu state government to help address the challenges of water scarcity in the State and to help increase the financial stability of Enugu Water cooperation to generate revenue that will sustain the system and improve water governance in the state
When did this project commence and what’s stage is the project now
The project commenced in 2015. The project has two components and a lot of things are involved in the project. The first component which is the soft component deals with capacity building and project management while the second component which is the hard component has to do with rehabilitation of water supply infrastructures.
One of the reasons why water is not sustainable is because the main focus is only on the rehabilitation of infrastructure without impacting people’s capacity to manage the infrastructures. The project is meant to last for 5 years. In his words, The project will address transmission, production, distribution, metering, and revenue cycle management for return on investment for the loan from AFD.
He also spoke on the measures and plans put in place to ensure that that project reaches its goals. He said several procurement processes have been launched and several key stakeholders to ensure the project runs digitally and reach its capacity. He mentioned that COVID-19 has slowed down the work. He also said 120 Euros was given to them by SIWI to carry out financial servicing and tariff study.
He also mentioned that the project is in phases short, medium and long term. The project is meant to address the challenge in the medium terms. He listed the 4 infrastructural components of the project which are
- Rehabilitation of Oji and Ajalli water treatment plant
- Rehabilitation of the transmission pipeline
- Rehabilitation of distribution pipeline
- Metering and mobile workshop
He stated that the completion will increase water supply by 64% and the soft component there are 5 capacity building plans which are
- Project management support consultants to support the implementation of the project appropriately.
- Technical assistance to help Enugu State water cooperation to implement the project, produce and distribute water, generate revenue and recycle it for sustainability.
- Institutional technical assistance to harmonize the laws, functions and responsibilities of the ministry.
- Education communication commission, to help sensitize the public about the new water supply.
- Internal and the external auditor to audit and for financial regulations.
Engineer Charles gave his promise that by the end of the project water will be accessible in Enugu and water would run in every household at the same time because hydraulic modelling will be used. In his words, the procurement of pumps in Ajalli ahead of the AFD project is evidence that the governor is highly committed to the provision of water for “ndi Enugu”.