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President Kikwete inaugurates UN-Habitat water project
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17/01/2008
Muleba, Tanzania



President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania on Wednesday inaugurated a project to improve access to clean water for the residents of Muleba town, some 600 kiometers north east of Dar es Salaam.

President Kikwete was accompanied by senior government officials as he joined members of the public and a UN-HABITAT mission led by Mr. Bert Diphoorn, Acting Director of the Human Settlements and Finance Division in a colourful ceremony during which the President lauded the work of the agency in supporting his government’s efforts to improve access to clean drinking water for underserved communities.

“This intervention by UN-HABITAT is crucial as it will make clean water available to more residents of Muleba, and we want to thank them for their support. It is our aim to promote such partnerships as a way of supplementing our efforts in improving the provision of basic services,” the head of state said.

Noting that the UN-HABITAT project dovetails into the overall vision of the Tanzanian government to make portable water available within 400 meters of all households by 2017, the President reiterated his government’s commitment to the water and sanitation targets of the Millennium Development Goals.

“Our aim is to achieve this vision within the context of the Millennium Development Goals which we have committed ourselves to,” he said. Emphasising the need to ensure sustainability of the project through local ownership and accountability, President Kikwete appealed to local leaders and the beneficiary communities to be at the forefront of protecting the water facilities from vandalism and deterioration through neglect as they stand to be the losers if it failed.

“Regular maintenance is the only way the project can continue to benefit you. I believe that rehabilitation is deferred maintenance, so let us not wait for the project to deteriorate and then embark on costly rehabilitation as the funds used in such an endeavour could be used in starting other projects,” he said.

On behalf of UN-HABITAT, Bert Diphoorn revealed that following the success of the first phase, the Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation Initiative, currently being implemented in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, would soon embark on its second phase which is set to expand to include Rwanda and Burundi.

The inauguration of the water project was a fitting New Year present to the people of Muleba who have been suffering from a severe shortage of safe drinking water for a long time. Surveys carried out by UN-HABITAT showed that over 88 percent of the people in the town had no access to safe drinking water and that more than 50 percent of the town residents have been relying on water vendors who provide limited quantities of unsafe water at high cost.

The Nyamwala spring, which has been the main source of water for the town had deteriorated over time and the gravity pipeline from the spring to the town was in such poor condition that very little water was actually reaching the town.

It was in this situation that UN-HABITAT agreed with the Government of Tanzania to include Muleba as one of the six towns for the first phase of the Lake Victoria Water and Sanitation Programme.

January 28, 2008 | 6:54 PM Comments  0 comments

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