By Muhammad Aliyu
Jigawa state government has said that it is gradually phasing out motorised water supply scheme in all was cheaper and easier to maintain even in the rural communities.
Managing director of the agency, Engr. Ali A Umar, who disclosed this to Blueprint in an interview, said “very soon only solar water supply scheme will be used in the state,” adding that the ones using diesel were being replaced.
Umar added that under the STOWA water supply scheme in Jigawa state, there were a total of 557 water supply schemes in the state 323 were functional out of which 294 were solar-powered, while 29 were motorised water supply schemes.
He said there were 235 existing water schemes which were in very bad shapes before additional 323 new ones where established by the present administration, disclosing that presently all the old ones that were faulty were being fixed.”
On how the project would be sustained, he said the N2.6 billion was amount was being expended on water supply scheme alone, while the cost of maintenance was being sustained by the community through water consumers associations established in all benefiting communities.
He said it was part of government’s efforts to ensure that the small town water scheme was being sustained by each benefiting community, “making them directly involve in the maintenance of the scheme will sustain the projects.”
He said there were 235 existing water schemes which were in very bad shape before additional 323 were established by the present administration.
On the contributions of development partners, the STOWA MD said the state had been collaborating with DFID and EU in a number of projects under the STOWA project worth millions of naira.