THE Prime Minister, Mr Kassim Majaliwa, has announced a grand water distribution project in four regions of Katavi, Rukwa, Simiyu and Tabora by harnessing Lake Tanganyika and Lake Victoria fresh waters to increase water supply, hence permanently addressing water woes in the regions.
Mr Majaliwa revealed that while
addressing residents of Majengo residents in Sumbawanga Municipality in
Rukwa Region on Wednesday shortly after laying a foundation stone on a
mega-water project funded by the European Union and Government of
Germany through its development bank, KfW, at the cost of 32bn/-.
“The government is looking at the
possibility of harnessing Lake Tanganyika’s fresh waters from Karema
Village in Tanganyika District (Katavi ) as well as Kasanga Port in
Kalambo District in Rukwa Region for use in those municipalities as well
as all villages in which the project will pass through”, he said.
In the same vein, the PM said that water
supply in Shinyanga Region, as harnessed from Lake Victoria would be
pumped into Igunga and Nzega districts in Tabora Region. Also, the water
project in Busega District in Simiyu Region will be extended to
Bariadi, Itilima, Meatu and Maswa districts in the region.
Mr Majaliwa cautioned that environmental
degradation in Rukwa and Katavi regions could lead to desertification
if stern measures are not taken to curb it and plant many trees to check
climate change effect.
He directed the RCs and DCs to initiate a
special campaign to redress the situation if desertification is to be
avoided as the situation is worse in Rukwa Region while Katavi Region
seems to follow suit as a result of uncontrolled human activities.
He warned that if the situation is not
contained, the welfare and lives of the people as well as water supply
will be in jeopardy. Earlier, the Sumbawanga Urban Water Supply and
Sanitation Authority (Suwasa) Acting Managing Director, Engineer Hamis
Makala briefed the Premier that the construction of the project
officially took off on March 18, 2013.
It was initially expected to be
accomplished on March 15, 2015. Engineer Makala expounded that the work
on the project has reached 85 per cent, adding that its construction had
been divided into two sections that include drilling of deep wells,
being undertaken by the Jandu Plumbers Company based in Arusha; and
construction of clean and safe water network infrastructure and two
sanitation dams carried out by Technofab Company from India.
The fund would also be spent on
connecting pumps in 12 drilled deep wells, laying water pipes in
Sumbawanga Municipality covering 16 kilometres, improving water
filtering plant located at Majengo Juu area, where construction of 12
water kiosks and 38 water centres is going on and purchase of two
garbage collector trucks.
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