Otti Begins Rehabilitation Of 1.3b Ubakala, Ariaria Water Schemes

Governor Alex Otti of Abia has flagged-off the rehabilitation of the N1.3b Ubakala Water Scheme and Ariaria Water Scheme Projects Aba.

Flagging-off the two water schemes at Ubakala, Umuahia South Local Government, as part of activities marking the third anniversary of his administration, Governor Alex Otti thanked the Mercy Corps for the assistance extended to Abia State.

Governor Otti said that by the flagging-off of the Ubakala Water Scheme, the Ariaria Water Scheme is equally flagged-off and two of them would be commissioned at the same time.

“I want to thank them for this support and their resilience. N1.3b is a lot of money and we cannot take it for granted.

“We are going to flag-off this project and as we flag it off, we will assume that we have flagged-off the two projects. So, when we return here again, it will be for commissioning the water scheme.

Chief press secretary to the Governor Ukoha Njuko Ukoha report that Governor Otti described water as critical to life, hence, his government decision to take it as a critical project.

“Water is so critical to life and a lot of people have passed on because of unsafe water.

“And that is why this government has taken it as critical project, one of her critical projects, to ensure that we have potable water across the State,” Gov. Otti stated.

Governor Otti, who disclosed that the Aba regional water project has reached 95% completion and informed the people that the project flagged-off is an additional boost to the Ariaria regional water.

In his speech, the Commissioner for Power and Public Utilities, Engr. Ikechukwu Monday, while appreciating the Governor for his determination to provide safe water for the people, said that the water project aligns with the objectives of the Abia Integrated WASH Accelerated Programme earlier launched by Governor Otti.

Engr. Monday noted that “This is the third time that the flag-off of these projects has been planned. The first time, we had a date, the financier was on their way to this place, and along Anambra, they were kidnapped. As you know, this project was initially financed by USAID through the Mercy Corps.

“The second one was in January last year after His Excellency, the President of the United States of America took over and you know what happened to USAID. All the aids were withdrawn.

“Since then, His Excellency has provided leadership and through the support of Mercy Corps. Last year, we got the private financier who has accepted to finance this project.

The Commissioner said that as the flag-off is done, it goes beyond rehabilitation of water project.

“As we break the grounds of this project, we are not only rehabilitating the water project, but we are restoring the dignity of our people.

“And this is what the government of His Excellency, Dr. Alex Otti stands for,” Engr. Monday stated.

Earlier, the representative of the country Director, Mr Rabiu Sani, explained that the Mercy Corps is a humanitarian organisation, existing in over 40 countries and part of their interventions has touched lives across the 6 geopolitical zones of Nigeria.

He noted thus, “We want to improve livelihood and then we also want to ensure that our projects are sustainable.

“This is over 10 years now that we’ve been in the country and I can say that Mercy Corps has touched virtually all the geographical zones in in the country,” he stated.

He said that the scope of the work includes, rehabilitation of the existing boreholes, testing existing pump and rehabilitating some of the pump.

“Your Excellency, let me also add that, it’s not just a water supply rehabilitation. We would be putting in a renewable energy system which is solar and we are looking at, at least 280 panels of this, each with 580 watts.

“So, together these two projects represent a combined investment of at least 1.3 billion Naira courtesy of Mercy Corps in partnership with Abia State government.

“So, our three impacts are very clear. We want to improve public health. We want to reduce dependence on unsafe water. We want to support homes, markets with infrastructures to restore confidence in public delivery.

“We also value community ownership because it’s not just enough to do this project and we go. Part of the things we’ll be doing before the commissioning is to train a community and build a technical team who will now be handling this system. So, this is what we have,” he stated.

While appreciating the Governor and the Ministry of Power and Public Utilities under Engineer Ikechukwu Monday, the Country Director saluted the Governor for his commitment and assured that
they would continue to work closely with the State government.