13 June 2009
THE completion of the K800 million project for the construction of individual lavatories in Kitwe's Wusakile Township by Nkana Water and Sewerage Company (NWSC) has been delayed due to illegal extensions of structures in a number of houses.
NWSC public relations manager, Damasake Chibale, said that the company was implementing a sanitation project where it was expected to construct individual lavatories for 1, 700 housing units to replace existing dilapidated communal ones.
Mr Chibale said in Kitwe yesterday during a conducted tour of Wusakile for journalists, that NWSC last year received K860 million for construction of 66 individual lavatories in Wusakile under the sanitation improvement phase two project for the township.
He said K580 million was direct funding from the Government while K280 million was from National Water and Sanitation Council (NWASCO).
Mr Chibale who was accompanied by community development officer, Prisca Makasa, said the project was supposed to be launched this month but had been delayed due to problems such as illegal extension of houses.
"For some years now residents of Wusakile have been using communal toilets and this has not been healthy hence, under the project for sanitation improvement, we embarked on the construction of individual toilets," Mr Chibale said.
He said the new lavatories would bring dignity to residents of Wusakile.
Mr Chibale said under the phase one project, which was conducted in 2004, 800 individual lavatories were constructed at a cost of K550 million obtained from the World Bank.
Niven Chanda, a resident in Wusakile thanked NWSC for embarking on a project to construct individual lavatories, saying it was a big relief to the community as it would save many people from contracting water borne diseases.
And Kitwe City Council acting Town Clerk, Monica Mwanza, regretted the use of communal lavatories in Wusakile, saying they were a breeding ground for diseases.
Ms Mwanza who is community environment and health services director said the need for decent sanitation services in Wusakile had been a great concern to the council.
She said the council had taken note of the problem of illegal structures that had affected the construction of lavatories and was doing everything possible to address that.
Earlier, the entourage visited Chibuluma and Chibote townships in Kalulushi where a project for water kiosks worth K997 million had been undertaken by NWSC.
Ms Makasa said that the people in the two townships had had no piped water and survived on water from shallow wells.
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