Dawasa to connect over 100,000 Mbezi residents to water network

DAR ES SALAAM: THE Dar es Salaam Water and Sanitation Authority (DAWASA) has officially begun to execute the instructions of the Deputy Minister for Water, Engineer Mathew Kundo, to ensure that more than 100,000 residents at Msumi area in Mbezi, Dar es Salaam Region are connected to the authority’s water network.

The development come after the deputy minister’s visit to the area recently where he outlined the government’s commitment to improving access to water in Mbezi Ward, particularly Msumi street.

Eng Kundo said the government will come up with both a short- and long-term plan to address the water challenge in the area.

Speaking about the implementation of the project in Dar es Salaam Region on Wednesday, DAWASA Acting Head of Communications Unit, Ms Everlasting Lyaro said the authority through Drilling and Dam Construction Agency (DDCA) has already started implementing a short-term project to address the water challenge at Mbezi, Msumi area.

“This project will involve the drilling of three wells at Msumi A, B and Msumi C along with its distribution points where approximately 144,000 residents are expected to benefit,” she asserted.

According to her, the construction of the wells which will cost 170m/- will be completed within two weeks.

“Before starting to implement this short-term plan, Msumi was the only area in Ubungo District that was not connected to DAWASA’s network…so this implementation will improve the availability of water in this area,” she underlined.

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However, Ms Lyaro said the implementation of long- term plan that will involve the construction of water storage tank, booster pump stations will cost a total of 18bn/-.

Statistics indicate that as of December last year, the availability of clean and safe water services reached 79.6 per cent in rural areas and 90 per cent in urban areas.

Tabling the national budget recently in the National Assembly in Dodoma, the Minister for Finance Dr Mwigulu Nchemba said those achievements have been contributed by the completion of 1,633 rural water projects and 213 urban water projects.

For his part, the Chairman of Musumi street, Mr Agustino Mbinda, commended the government for its efforts to ensure that water service reaches the citizens