Zanzibar — OVER 40,000 residents of villages in Mtoni area are set to benefit from a 40m/- water project that will ease the problem of access to clean and safe water in the area.

Residents of Mtoni constituency, on Unguaj Island, have for many years had to spend many hours in search for water were ecstatic upon the arrival of Zanzibar First Vice-President, Mr Seif Sharif Hamad, to inaugurate the first borehole with taps in the constituency.

The project is the brainchild of Mr Nassor Ahmed Mazrui, the constituency's Representative who is also the Minister for Trade, Industries and Marketing and it is expected to be completed by 2015.

"We have already built eleven boreholes and each will serve at least 5,000 people. The ongoing work is on the distribution of water through pipes so that people would not have to walk for long distances to fetch water," said Mazrui, also a well known businessman in the Isles.

Speaking during the inauguration event at Basrah grounds in the constituency, Mr Mazrui and other community leaders said the residents had for long been pleading for assistance to get water closer to them. The representative, with assistance from the Centre for Entrepreneurship Training, also on Sunday launched a sustainable programme to promote and support at least 150 new entrepreneurs in the constituency.

Mr Seif said during the occasion that the Government of National Unity (GNU) was happy with community leaders such as representatives who have been struggling to solve problems in their respective constituencies.

"The government cannot do everything on its own. Every leader has a role to play in developing Zanzibar," said Mr Seif at the function attended by several Zanzibar ministers and the Consular General of Oman in Zanzibar. He said that some leaders have not been active in serving their people and have been going against their promises and cheating the electorate.

Most of the entrepreneurs, the majority being women, are involved in producing and selling farm produce, mainly from horticulture, arts and handcrafts production and cookery.