Tanzanian govt sets ambitious water supply target

The government has reiterated its commitment to ensure that clean and safe water availability reaches 85 and 95 per cent in Rural and Urban areas respectively by December this year.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Water, Prof Kitila Mkumbo made the pledge on Wednesday, revealing that about 117bn/- has been released so far to Rural Water Agency (RUWASA) as the government looks to meet the target.

He noted that 86 districts in 17 regions have been allocated funds for water projects.

The amount disbursed, according to the PS, will be channeled into improving the rural water services by building new facilities and rehabilitating old wells -- so as to meet the government target by end of this year.

In order to meet this target water authorities countrywide have the obligation to effectively supervise all projects, reminded Prof Mkumbo.

He was speaking yesterday in Dar es Salaam during his site visit to inspect water projects in Bunju, Wazo, Mabwepande, Salasala and Changanyikeni.

The projects are under the Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Authority (DAWASA), with the PS commending the authority for properly managing the water projects.

Despite challenging DAWASA to come up with more feasible plans, the PS hailed the authority for carrying out a number of activities billed to address water woes in the country's commercial city, including constructing water tanks and stations under a Contractor Jain from India, under the supervision of Water and Power Consultancy Services Limited (WAPCOS).

"The major water project for Dar es Salaam region was to improve and extend water services to the most challenging water areas which involved the construction of more five water tanks and a booster station," he said.

"There were two phases... we started with increasing water production from 300 to 500 million litres a day, and phase two being the construction of tanks and pumping stations in various parts of the city," he stated.

He added that, at present the main task was to ensure water is supplied to households, disclosing further that the government has already received a World Bank loan of about 77bn/- to accomplish water projects in Dar es Salaam and Coast regions.

In this financial year, Water Ministry has allocated 610bn/- for implementation of various water projects in the country.

July last year, DAWASA signed 114.5bn/- contract for six water projects in Dar es Salaam and Coast Regions with the authority hinting that it was on course to end water woes residents in the two regions were facing.

The projects that were planned for implementation included the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM)-Bagamoyo water supply, Mwanagati-Kitunda water distribution pipeline and 20 water wells drilling in Kimbiji and Mpera.

Others were Kisarawe-Pugu water supply, and the Mkuranga town and Mlandizi-Chalinze water distribution pipeline projects.