Health
THE International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), says it has spent nearly N1 billion on a 9million-litre capacity water plant at Alamdauri community inaugurated in Maiduguri, Borno.
Mr. Eloi Fillion, the Head of the ICRC Delegation in Nigeria, made this known during the inauguration of the project on Monday.
Fillion explained that when fully operational, the plant would supply water to 150, 000 residents and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) at Alamdauri and adjourning communities.
He said that the project executed in collaboration with Borno State Ministry of Water Resources, was currently supplying potable water to 80, 000 residents and IDPs in the area.
“Over the past years, access to water for people of the Lake Chad Region has increasingly become difficult.
“Surface water sources have been dwindling, and the protracted armed conflict kept several hundreds of thousands of people away from their homes for years, depriving them of the regular source of water.
“In the last few years, the population of Maiduguri increased from two to over three million inhabitants, offering refuge to thousands of people fleeing the violence,” he said.
Fellion noted that lack of access to potable water was making life unbearable for the residents and exposing them to health risks.
According to him, the ICRC, in collaboration with the state government, is working to upgrade the capacity of existing infrastructure.
Speaking while inaugurating the project, Gov. Babagana Zulum said government had approved the reticulation of residential homes and other strategic locations in the area.
Zulum said that his administration had accorded priority to water supply, adding that the state government had made significant investment to rehabilitate water infrastructure destroyed by insurgents.
He lauded the ICRC for the gesture and tasked the ministry to ensure effective utilisation of the facility.
In his remarks, Alhaji Mustapha Aminami, Permanent Secretary, state Ministry of Water Resources, said the Alamdauri water plant was initiated 20 years ago, to supply water to Bulumkutu Abuja, Bulumkuttu Kasuwa, Tsallake, Dala Alamdauri and Yan Nono communities.
“It is at this critical point that the ICRC made its grand entrance with an offer to complete the project, sequel to a population survey conducted in the area and subsequent signing of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the ministry of water resources in 2017,” he said.
-NAN
BE
JULY 22, 2019 20:20 GMT
Tags: ICRC spends N1bn on water plant in Maiduguri says official
