Approximately 60,000 residents of Tanzania’s Ukerewe District are set to benefit from a US $4.7m water project. The President, Mr. John Magufuli, presided over the commissioning of the project earlier on this week.
The project is funded by the African Development Bank in conjunction with Tanzanian government. According to reports, the project will have the capacity of producing 8.6m litres of water per day. Incidentally, this happens to be twice the amount Ukerewe needs.
President Magufuli also said that the government was also planning to build a 12km tarmac road from Nansio to Ukerewe. He further gave his word that he would ensure there is construction of more industries in the island for purposes of boosting productivity. These will also serve as employment opportunities for the youth in the area.
On the other hand, Dr Magufuli advised investors in the country to abide by the country’s laws and pay their workers accordingly. This, he said will go a long way towards ensuring efficiency in production.
This project comes only months after the US $231m water and sanitation project for the country’s capital. For this particular project, the minister for Water and Irrigation tasked the Arusha Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (AUWSA) with collection of monies forpurposes of maintenance of the same.
According to AUWSA boss Lulu Koya, the pipe would be laid at a distance of 220 kilometres covering 4,024 holes that will connect over 4,500 customers. The AfDB also chipped in the budget with a disbursement of US $191m whereas the remaining amount was sourced internally.
