MINISTER for Water Jumaa Aweso on Thursday tabled the ministry's 709.361bn/- budget, listing water projects priorities to be implemented in the next financial year.
In his speech the minister expressed the government commitment to start constructing the eagerly awaited Kidunda Water Reservoir in Morogoro region for easing the chronic water shortage problem in Dar es Salaam City and the neighboring areas.
Also in the list of priorities, include implementing the Rufiji-Dar es Salaam water project. The project will also benefit Coast region's residents.
Aweso also said the ministry will start constructing Farkwa Water Dam in Chemba district, Singida region to improve water supply to Dodoma City residents.
The minister said due to an increase in population in Dodoma, the City's water requirements now stands at 133.8 million litres per day while the production capacity in all sources stands at 66.7million litres, equivalent to 50.2 per cent.
He said the sixth phase government, under President Samia Suluhu Hassan, has secured a loan amounting to 125.3 million US dollars from African Development Bank (AfDB) for the construction of the dam(Farkwa) and water treatment plant.
However, he said, the long lasting solution to address shortage of water in Dodoma City will involve drawing water from Lake Victoria, a project that will also benefit Singida residents.
Another good news in the budget is the commencement of implementation of sustainable water supply projects in 28 towns in the country, out of which 24 will have their water projects funded by the Exim Bank of India at the value of 500million US dollars.
Procurement procedures to acquire contractors in 24 towns are complete. However,implementation of the projects in four towns will be financed by the government.
The four towns are Mafinga, Makonde, Songea and Tarime-Ryorya.
According to the minister, other towns to benefit from the water programme are Ifakara, Kiomboi, Muheza, Wanging'ombe, Kayanga, Makonde, Njombe, Makambako, Manyoni, Songea, Sikonge, Chunya, Kasulu, Kilwa Masoko, Rujewa, Mugumu, Geita, Chato, Zanzibar, Singida Mjini, Mpanda, Chemba, Mafinga, UramboKaliua, Pangani, Rorya/Tarime and Chamwino.
According to the minister, the government will continue implementing water projects whose implementation started in the previous financial years, including starting new ones.
To be specific the minister said the government, in the next financial year, will implement a total of 1,029 water projects, of which 648 are continuing while 381 are new, most of which are in rural areas and are overseen by the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency ( Ruwasa) .
The implementation of 381 new water projects is expected to cost around 95bn/-.
A total of 15 water dams will also be built in rural areas.
The budget presented considered the National Development Vision 2025, Global Sustainable Development Goals 2016-2030, National Water Development Programme, various national policies, CCM's 2020-2025 election manifesto and the directives and promises by President Samia Suluhu Hassan and other national leaders.
Aweso said in the 2022/2023 financial year the government plans to strengthen supervision and monitoring of water sources, promote rain water harvesting in dry areas, strengthen Community Based Water Supply Organisations (CBWSOs) and strengthen the units responsible for dam construction and water drilling.
He said the ministry will also carry out research through the Water Resources Centre of Excellence unit to have sustainable water use plan in the country.
The minister said his ministry will also prepare a Rural Sanitation Master Plan, including designing pilot projects under the programme to be implemented in the country.
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In collaboration with the Oman government, the ministry will also drill 20 water wells in rural areas in Dodoma, Morogoro, Coast and Singida regions.
The minister said residents in the Great Lakes region will continue benefiting from clean water service provision as the ministry plans to implement water projects in 48 villages around Lake Tanganyika.
Apart from the 28 towns water programme, the minister said, the ministry will, in the next financial year, implement 175 water projects in urban areas.
In exploring various water sources, the government also plans to tap water from Ruvuma River before taking it all the way to Mtwara Mikindani and the neighboring villages. Another task will involve implementing water project from Kiwira River to benefit Mbeya City residents.
According to the new budget, the ministry plans to spend a total of 702.361bn/- of which 51.462bn/- are for Recurrent Expenditures and 657.899bn/-for Development Expenditures.
