Umahi flags off N2.1bn Operation Water Ebonyi State

By Philip Nweze

Umahi flags off N2.1bn Operation Water Ebonyi State
Ebonyi State Government is to spend N 2.1 billion on the rehabilitation of
water facilities to meet  the  water needs of residents of  the state.
Governor David Umahi stated this in Abakaliki on Thursday while flagging
off the state’s Sustainable Development Goals water projects in the three
senatorial zones of the state which he dubbed “Operation Water Ebonyi
State.”
Addressing the people during the ceremony,  the governor said Ebonyi was
among the 10 lucky states that accessed the SDG grant of N 600 million each
.
According to the governor, the beneficiary states were expected to match
the grant with additional N600m each in order to access the fund. He
explained that  Ebonyi  did not only do so, it injected additional N900m
into the pool, thereby having the N2.1bn for the water projects.
The sum, he added, would be used to fix   the Ezillo water plant, the
Sacamori water station,  the Juju hill water scheme and the Ohaozara water
station.
A statement  on Friday by his Chief Press Secretary, Emma Anya, quoted
Umahi as saying: “Let me put it properly that Federal Government gave N600m
and we were expected to match it with another N600m.
“We did and we also provided another N900m. So all together, the three lots
of the projects are going to be costing us about N2.1bn. So, FG, N600m;
Ebonyi State Government, N1.5bn.
"Let me say that the scope of this job is, part one, rehabilitation of
Ezillo water treatment plant, and Sacamori pipe line  network facilities.
We tend to have storage Tanks in Ichichi Forest, which will supply
the  Federal University at Ndufu Alike, supply the local government of
Ikwo, supply some areas in Izzi, supply our rice mill and that of Engr.Ugwu
as we make efforts to get our rice millers to also take over the UNIDO rice
mill.
"The Sacamori pipeline has its network through Ezza North,Ezza south,
Ishielu, Izzi,Ohaukwu, and even FUNAI .
"We want to do proper integration of Ezillo water scheme and that of
Oferekpe to ensure that if we have problem with Oferekpe and it is shut
down, Ezillo will start supplying. But most importantly is the
distribution network in Abakaliki."
Umahi said the 3rd one is to address the water challenges in Ohaozara.
Already, we have water treatment plant there.  So what we want to do is to
build a storage tank at Agukwu and build another storage tank at
Ugwulangwu. So with these two storage tanks, we can  network the entire
Okposi, Uburu and   Ugwulangwu."
The governor, who  lauded President MuhammadU Buhari and the Secretary to
the Government of the Federation, Babacir Lawal, for  including Ebonyi
State as a beneficiary of the  grant,  the aforementioned projects
constituted the first major phase of the “Operation Water Ebonyi State.”
He also disclosed that the Ishiagu water project had  been redesigned and
re- awarded to a competent contractor at the cost of N1.2 billion,
stressing that the arrangement was to integrate all water projects.
He stated that the Oferekpe and Ukawu water scheme would be completely
ready to provide water.
Umahi also emphasised that the distribution process of the pipelines had
already  started.
"We just started a process to do some distribution network of our
pipelines .And I have directed Ministry of Water resources to immediately
tell us the balance of the distribution, so that within the next one year,
we should beat our chests and say, every body, especially within the
capital city is drinking water."
The governor  assured the remaining local government areas that are not
benefiting in the SDG water projects that they would be considered in
other areas such as provision of electricity.
He frowned at poor quality of some road project being handled by some
contractors in the state and warned that any contractor who was not ready
to keep to specification and standard would  be shown the way out .