DUWASA applauded for saving over 1bn/- in water project

DODOMA Regional Commissioner (RC), Ms Rosemary Senyamule has applauded the Dodoma Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Authority (DUWASA) Board for successful implementation of a 1.12bn/- construction of a water tank, down from 2.5bn/- that was allocated for the project.

She gave the compliments in Dodoma on Tuesday during the inauguration of Buigiri water tank project which has the capacity of 2.5 million litres of water.

The RC said that the Board has shown high level of patriotism by saving more than 1bn/- that will be channeled to other development activities.

“I would like to offer my sincere congratulations to DUWASA Board for being patriotic; they decided to buy equipment and use SUMA JKT Company for execution of this project, thus saving more than half of the money that was allocated,” she said.

The launch of the project is among various activities going on in the country to mark the 59th anniversary of the Union between Tanganyika and Zanzibar, which was culminated yesterday.

She said that in the 59 years of the Union, the government has continued to make great strides in development by improving quality of services, including provision of water services.

“Through this project water availability in Chamwino District has increased from 42 per cent to 87 per cent, equivalent to an increase of 45 per cent.

“Dodoma region is growing rapidly and the demand for water and other social services is increasing; the government continues to ensure that it improves and provides services that will meet the population increase in our region, if we look at the moment Bahi has access to water at 95 per cent, Kongwa 85 per cent, Dodoma City 91 per cent and Chamwino they have reached 87 per cent now,” she said.

“We expect that by 2025 all the Dodoma districts will have access to water by 95 per cent in urban areas and 85 per cent in rural areas,” she added.

In addition, Ms Senyamule asked citizens to take precautions with the use of water, ensure water infrastructure is not tampered with and pay their water bills so that water infrastructure is well maintained.

“I ask the citizens to safeguard the water infrastructure so that they can continue to benefit from the project.

On his part the DUWASA Managing Director, Engineer Aron Joseph, said that  the  completion  has increased  production of the precious liquid  in Chamwino – from 1.4 million litres  per day to 3.6 million litres per day  basing on the current needs.

“Current water demand is 3.6 million litres per day, but the amount produced is 4.9 million litres per day, so we have a surplus we can still produce more because the existing wells in Buigiri can produce 14 million litres, so we are sure of water for the next 20-30 years,” said Eng Joseph.

He noted that construction project of the tank was implemented with funds from the Central Government through Force Account where the contractor who is SUMA JKT provided labour and equipment while DUWASA bought all the construction materials hence saved 55 per cent of the funds (2.5 bn/-) that had been allocated to implement the project.

He added that DUWASA is continuing with a plan to expand the accessibility of clean and safe water services in Chamwino area, from 87 per cent to 100 per cent for the next 30 years.

“Chamwino is among the largest water projects of 28 cities funded by Exim India; we have 17 bn/- that will be used to install water networks, develop the remaining 11 wells and install pipes for water supply, a contract between the government and the contractor required to carry out this work has already been signed,” he said.