The Enugu State Executive Council has approved the procurement of a $50 million facility from the French Development Agency (AFD) to rehabilitate water infrastructure in the state.

Commissioner for Information, Dr. Godwin Udeuhele, made this known, in Enugu, on Thursday, while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the state executive council meeting held on Wednesday night.

Udeuhele said that the state would join Ondo and Plateau states that had already accessed the facility for the same purpose.

He said that the government would use the loan to boost water supply in Enugu urban in the first phase of the scheme and Nsukka urban in the second phase.

According to the Commissioner for Water Resources, Mr Charles Egungbe, 12 other states are involved in the scheme.

Egungbe said that the facility was made available in January 2017 and is expected to be repaid over a period of between 20 to 50 years. It also attracts two per cent interest rate with a 10-year moratoruim.

“Government is very cautious when it comes to accepting facilities, but because of the water situation in this city, we decided to participate.

“This project involves the expansion of the main water lines in this city and a total overhaul of key water facilities of Ajali and Oji River because these are the main areas.

“You may be surprised that we have just 165 connections in this Enugu, which has now come to over one million in population, “he said.

Related News

The commissioner said that under the project, houses would be metered to avoid incidences of estimated billing that could cause contentions with the water corporation.

“There are also plans to build a maintenance workshop where engineers can be trained for efficiency and effectiveness and we are going to speed up actions towards realising this, “he said.

Egungbe said that having procured the facilities, residents of Emene and Trans-Ekulu in Enugu would be covered under the new water reticulation exercise.

He said that the aim of the scheme was not just to boost water production, but to make sure that there was revenue in water for the corporation to be self-sustaining.

“With this project, people will begin to feel differently in terms of water supply.

“If many homes are connected, we will generate not less than 200,000 cubic litres of water and that would translate to more money for the corporation.”

The water resources commissioner said that the corporation was still running on the lifeline granted it by the council.

“That is why you can now see an increase of water supply to the city from 5,000 cubic litres of about 15,000 cubic meters.

“Our problem now is the issue of electricity, “Egungbe said. (NAN)