Northern Region Water Board set for $26m Karonga water supply project

Northern Region Water Board (NRWB) has set to expand coverage of water supply in Karonga in order to widen access to safe and portable water to communities in the district.

Laying of pipes for water supply system

The project dubbed Karonga Water Supply Project has been earmarked to commence this August 2018 beginning from Pusi  and Kapolo in the north as well as Mlare in the center.

 Nyasa Times understand that the project follows an approval from the National Assembly.

The project will be funded to the tune of $26.7 Million by Arab Development Fund (Badea), Opec Fund for International Development and The Northern Region Water Board.

Speaking in an interview  with Nyasa Times after briefing the Karonga full council Director of Finance at NRWB Francis Munthali, said the project will commence in august and will last till 2021.

“This is a very significant project for Karonga as it will widen the coverage of portable water through the breakdown of our water systems in the areas that the project has targeted. Our coming here was to inform members of the full council about the project,” he said.

He said with the good track record that NRWB has especially in completing projects in time, they are confident that the time scale given for the project is sufficient for the project amid huge demand for access to portable water.

“The demand to expand the water system and the breaking down of these facilities is huge as we have noted by members of full council hence we are trying our level best to identify donors to fund other areas like Nyungwe and Chilumba,” explained Munthali.

Reacting to the development, Karonga district council Chairperson Harry Mwanyembe, said the council welcomes such a significant project to the district that is set to greatly improve lives of people.

“The project is coming to the district at a right time considering the challenges that we have faced with cholera in our district which most cases emanated from use of unsafe water,” he said.

After hearing the development, some angry community wondered why the board is busy expanding its territory despite failing to fulfill its responsibilities within its current jurisdiction.

According to them, cholera cases are failing to go down because the board is failing to supply portable water.

“The board is good at making profits and not the welfare of its customers. We are affected by cholera outbreak because it failing to supply portable water,” they said.

The community has therefore threatened to protest especially if the board  continue frustrating them.

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