Guma Valley Water Company has handed over a 250 cubic meter concrete reservoir and a pipeline which has eight public stand posts to residents of IMATT in the Mountain Rural District in the west of Freetown.
IMATT is a community with an estimated population of 20, 000.
Representatives of the United Kingdom who funded the project, community members, councilors, the Deputy Minister of Water Resources, and staff of Guma, among others, attended the handing over of the facility to the community. The project is an extension of the Freetown Water Supply Rehabilitation Project to help fight against COVID-19 in Sierra Leone.
Its beneficiaries of the project are people who reside at Hill Station, IMATT community, Hill Cut road and along the Congo River valley, among others. The project is funded by UKAID and managed by the Foreign, Commonwealths and Development Office (FCDO) formerly known as DFID.
The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Water Resources, Reginald Thomas, said IMATT is a water stressed community in Freetown that is why it benefitted from the project. He called on the community members to take great care of the facility and be ready to pay Le500 for every Jerry can of water collected as service charge, adding, “Clean water is not cheap.”
The Managing Director of Guma Valley Water Company, Maada Kpenge disclosed, “We are where we are today because someone ring fence on the plot of lands and protect it from deforestation and the construction of houses. This plot of land, just 17 acres, is the source of this raw water for this facility. Had they allowed the forest to be cleared for housing development, we will not be here today celebrating the commissioning and handing over of this project. This is something that we should learn from as the pace of deforestation of forest accelerates in the Western Area.”
He added, “President Maada Bio has challenged us to provide universal access to safe drinking water for residents in Western Area by 2028. Today, this community has taken a step in moving towards achieving that goal. This means that children will now have time to study at home instead of searching for water. This means that women who in most cases are responsible to collect water will now dedicate that time to other productive activities. This means that incidents of water borne diseases will be reduced in this community,” he said.
He thanked the UK government, District Council, Councilors, Members of Parliament, and the team of Guma for ensuring that the project is completed on time and of high quality. He assured the community members that the facility is theirs and encouraged them to take good care of it.
Representing the FCDO Country Representative, the Deputy Development Director of FCDO, Sandra Baldwin said: “This is a unique project of surviving natural forest. This packet of forest, undeveloped as it is at the hill top area cannot only act as species for protecting animals, but also provide water for residents in the mountain community. Had it not been that it was preserved; we would not have been here today commissioning and handing over this project.
She disclosed that they are aware that members of the community had used to queuing for water until night, noting that those affected are mostly women and girls.
She disclosed that the project could not solve all the water issues facing the community, because during the rainy season the volume of water is reduced. “However, it is time to link this system to the expanded project at Babadorie,” she said.
In her keynote address, the deputy Minister of Water Resources, Ramatulai Bahchang said that the facility will alleviate the challenges of water supply faced in the communities and the country as a whole, stating that the new direction government under the leadership of President Bio is committed in achieving goal six of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which seek to provide safe and affordable water for all Sierra Leoneans.
By Stephen V. Lansana
27/10/2020. ISSUE NO: 7938