From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Seven states comprising Bauchi, Delta, Ekiti, Imo, Katsina, Kaduna and Plateau are to benefit from the first tier of the World Bank $700 million for specific water projects in the country.
The states would access between $50 and $60 million having met the criteria set up by the World Bank.
According to the Minister of Water Resources, Sulaiman Adamu, who is the 17th guest of the weekly ministerial press briefing, organised by the Presidential Communication Team, “Certain criteria were set up by the World Bank and us. And the states had to meet these criteria. And the projects are submitted into tier one and tier two. Tier one are for those that will get a substantial amount, maybe $50, $60 million for the urban schemes.
“For the Plan-Water, Sanitation and Hygiene action plan (P-WASH ) is the rural component and it is going to the state specifically. Some are going as grant while some of it are going to some specific projects. And like I said, there are criteria that states ought to have met, it is not all the 36 states. There are conditions attached on which basis that this money is going to be disbursed.
“So, the whole thing has not been finalised yet, but what we have is an approval in general from the World Bank specifically for this, there’ll be some realignments here and there and that is something that we’re going to be working on between our Ministry of Finance and the World Bank.”
The minister said the Federal Government is working on 116 ongoing and abandoned projects in the ministry. He added that 38 irrigation, 458 water supply schemes and 37 dams and reservoirs have been completed.
Adamu also said the Federal Government has declared the days it was Father Christmas in terms of providing water projects in states are over.
It announced the maximum commitment to states, henceforth, will be 30 percent as it is been discovered some states are deliberately laid-back and unwilling to do their parts in maintaining projects sited in their states.
He said Bayelsa where N6 billion Otuoke water project meant to save 13 communities of 120,000 people, was locked up by the state government because it claimed it cannot afford to the N2 or N3 million a month to provide diesel, staff salary and chemicals.
Adamu said: “Normally, when we are planning projects, what we call project justification. The document of the project tells you how many people will enjoy the water facility. It can tell you how many families are going to benefit, and so on and so forth. But all these things are addressed right at planning stage.”