… _To establish Disabilities Commission_
Governor of Enugu State, Dr. Peter Mbah, has allayed fears of Enugu residents over possible spike in water rate following the recent signing of a $100 million investment agreement between the state government and a consortium of Austrian investors to cover the last mile and ensure that water gets to every remaining home in the state capital and environs.
This was even as Mbah unveiled government’s plans to establish the Enugu State Disabilities Commission in 2025.
Governor Mbah gave the assurances at the weekend during a town hall meeting with the people of the state in Enugu, noting also that his administration had raised water production from occasional 2 million litres to 120 million litres a day in 180 days.
The governor said that the $100 million Foreign Direct Investment in the downstream water sector would boost and hasten the government’s effort at tackling the challenges of reticulation as well as relentlessly replacing old and asbestos pipes with ductile pipes.
“The only time you would have to appreciate the magnitude of challenges associated with those tertiary pipes is after you have allowed water to flow through them, and some of them after decades. That was when we started noticing burst pipes. We also started noticing that some of the pipes were still asbestos pipes and we needed to replace them.
“So, in terms of production, we have been able to achieve 150 per cent of our daily production needs. What we are now dealing with is the last mile; making sure that we get water to the last mile.
“Doing that, especially given the magnitude of what we have observed, is also cost intensive. But we are now fortunate that we have investors – and this is not loans or grants – but investors, who have undertaken to play in the downstream of our water management system.
“So, these investors are going to invest a hundred million dollars to ensure that they replace all the pipes leading to the last mile. So, 1.5 million households have been targeted for a start. That work will start in January in earnest. And they would also ensure it is sustained because they will ensure that it is metered. They will metre these homes as they do the tertiary pipelines,” he stated.
Mbah, however, assured that the government had factored in safety nets that would ensure that water rate remained low by selling produced water to the investors at the cheapest rate possible.
“For those who may be worried about what the cost will translate to with the coming in of these investors, you should not worry about that because that is why we are not outsourcing the production. We are still going to be fully in charge of production. Government will own the production lines and will still be fully responsible for producing water.
“We know that this is a social service, and that it is not necessarily a money-making venture. So, the investors, of course, will have a return on investment, but the interesting thing is that we have built in all the safety nets to ensure that our people are not exploited.
“Because the cost at which they sell water to our people is going to be a function of what they buy from us and knowing that we want this to get to our people at minimal cost, we are going to also ensure that what they pay to get the water from us is reduced to the strictest minimum.
“So, for those of you that we are yet to get public water, you can be sure that when we connect all these pipes and metres to your homes, what you may be paying will be barely 20 per cent of what you are currently spending to source for water.
“But most importantly, you are guaranteed clean water so that once you turn on your tap, water will flow,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the governor reiterated his administration’s inclusive development model, noting that the state was taking steps to ameliorate the challenges faced by people with disabilities, saying he was determined to ensure that no one was left behind.
“We have already domesticated the Disability Act. So, we already have the Enugu State Disabilities Law. I am pledging here that we are going to inaugurate the Enugu State Commission for People with Disabilities within the first quarter of 2025,” Mbah assured.