Governor Peter Mbah
Governor Mbah reveals water project plan in Enugu. Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State on Saturday inaugurated 120 million litres of water supply scheme in fulfillment of his campaign promise to address the scarcity of potable water in the state capital within 180 days of his administration.
Inaugurating 70 million litres of a water scheme in the 9 Mile area of the state, the governor disclosed that another water scheme at the Oji River area of the state with an additional 50 million litres of water daily has been completed.
The projects, according to the governor, have the capacity to deliver 120 million litres of water daily to the Enugu metropolis and its suburbs.
Mbah explained that the projects fulfilled his campaign pledge that all portions of Enugu city would have uninterrupted water service during his first 180 days in office.
He stated that the timely delivery of the projects resulted from the realization that the difficulty of water supply is critical to achieving his goal of increasing the state’s GDP from $4.4 billion to $30 billion during the next four to eight years.
“It was clear to us that the state of the water supply at the time was appalling.” Most of Enugu State had been without a stable water supply for about 20 years at the time. This resulted in the current situation, in which families must queue indefinitely to obtain water from tanker trucks that distribute water in an unreliable and epileptic manner.
“Businesses, on the other hand, were forced to invest in extensive water infrastructure from tankage to additional reticulation and for large-scale users like hotels, hospitals, etc. Many of them actually had to acquire tanker trucks of their own to afford themselves some reliability of supply.
“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that few investors will be drawn to the state in such dire circumstances, and existing businesses cannot expand to generate additional jobs and economic growth.” “If anything, these conditions are suffocating businesses and households across the state, causing unnecessary suffering,” he said.
The governor was overjoyed that his administration was “inaugurating this new ultra-modern water scheme with a capacity to deliver to businesses and families in Enugu 70 million litres of potable water daily, and this is only the first phase.”
“We will also be inaugurating new pumps in the Oji water scheme in a few weeks to enable us to deliver another 50 million litres of water every day,” Mbah said. This will offer us a total daily delivery of 120 million litres in Enugu, which is roughly twice the daily demand in the city.
“We are currently supplying water to Enugu municipality at appreciable pressures, and I can state here and now that pipe-borne water is here to stay.” Businesses in Enugu can now simply connect to public water and pay monthly water fees, as is common in other advanced areas.”
The governor said that families on the water pipeline grid would have access to water in their homes, while those who were not would not.
Mbah took advantage of the opportunity to advise locals who had invested in water tankers to sell them in order to free up funds for other purposes.
“For example, at Government House, we are in the process of decommissioning our tankers and transferring them to various people for alternative uses.” “On the part of Enugu families, we can now consign to unpleasant memories the sad experiences of returning home after a hard day’s work to find that we have run out of water, or the instances of listening to the excuses of the water suppliers as to why they are yet to deliver your water up to two days after the date initially promised,” he added.