Serengeti Breweries Limited (SBL) has pledged to support the government in the provision of safe and clean water as way to fight waterborne diseases in the country.
The SBL Managing Director Mark Ocitti made the remarks recently after launching a water project at Kihanju village in Itigi District, Singida Region that will serve over 2,000 people with safe and clean water.
Statistics show that before the project, between 15 and 20 patients who visit health facilities daily in the area were found suffering from various waterborne diseases.
It is from this backdrop that SBL partnered with Water Aid to address the predicament of Kihanju village but also the health and wellbeing of the villagers through the provision of potable water.
Through its programme known as Water of Life (WOL), the brewer has in most of these projects partnered with other organizations to ensure that Tanzanians are provided with safe and clean water in some of the neediest areas.
“SBL takes pride in enabling the people of Kihanju to access safe and clean water closer to their residents. We believe the project will not only boost their health but also lead to their increased economic productivity as people, particularly women, will no longer walk long distances to seek water elsewhere,” he said.
Mr Ocitti said the beer-maker considers water as key to the country’s future prosperity and that’s why it has always been ready to collaborate with the government and other partners in facilitating access to safe and clean water.
“SBL has a policy commitment towards the wellbeing of communities in the country with Water of Life being one of our four priority areas that our company has defined in its objective to provide social support to improve the social wellbeing of Tanzanians,” he said.
Constructed at a cost of 293m/-, the project will serve over 2,000 people directly and it consists of a borehole and its systems, a water pump, a water tank, and a distribution network.
Mr Ocitti said the project is one among many across the country that SBL has provided to communities through the Water of Life programme.
Mark noted that SBL has similar Water of Life projects in Iringa, Kilimanjaro, Mwanza, Tanga, Ruvuma, Dar es Salaam, Coast, and Dodoma regions serving over one million beneficiaries.
SBL has since 2010 to date, spent over 1.1bn/- in drilling 19 boreholes across the country, an undertaking that has made a significant contribution to the alleviation of the shortage of water in the country.
According to water.org, only 57 per cent of Tanzania’s population of 57 million has access to an improved source of safe water, and only 30 percent has access to improved sanitation.
The water.org, states that, “People living under these circumstances, particularly women and girls, spend a significant amount of time traveling long distances to collect water”.
