The Taraba Government and the African Development Bank (ADB) have launched a N3.6 billion water project for Jalingo, in a bid to end the perennial water scarcity in the city.

The state's Commissioner for Water Resources and Rural Development, Mr Rebo Usman, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Abuja.

According to Usman, acute water shortage in the city will soon be solved with the implementation of the project. He said the state was collaborating with the ADB to implement the project.

He said: "We launched the project a month ago for Jalingo water project and our counterpart funding is about N500 million but the total is N3.6 billion.

"We have just completed the assessment of consultants and also done the launching of the project. In the next six months, we should be ready to award the contract. It is a four-year project, we are going to lay 250 kilometers of pipeline in Jalingo town."

According to him, the project is meant for Jalingo township and it includes a feasibility study for future surface water source for the city.

Usman said the project would address the medium term water needs of the town.

"We are going to do a feasibility study on the water supply as part of the project and this project will also include sanitation," he said.

Usman lamented that the state's capital currently had less than 10 boreholes serving the whole town.

The commissioner, however, assured that the state government was committed to ending the water scarcity. (NAN).