THE Arusha Urban Water Supply and Sewerage Authority (AUWSA) plans to spend 11.8bn/- during the 2022/23 financial year, to implement several water projects in a bid to supply clean and safe water in the region by 100 per cent.
AUWSA Executive Director, Engineer Justine Rujomba outlined various priorities that his institution will implement in this financial year, as he insisted that there is yet another ongoing 6.5bn/- ambitious project that is at final stages.
He noted that the project would help the Arusha City to have access to the precious liquid from the current 75 per cent to 100 per cent by 2023.
He asked Arusha region residents to continue taking care of available water infrastructure and water sources in order to facilitate access to quality services.
He said that if water users take good care of water sources and environmental sanitation, water production will double and match the existing needs.
He clarified that the amount of water in the Arusha City had increased by 26,000,000 litres per day and that the increase has enabled the improvement of water availability in areas that had water woes.
He mentioned the beneficiaries as residents of Moshono, Kiserian, Murrieti, Olasiti, Sombetini, Kwa Moromboo, Olmoti, Sokoni 1, and some areas of Terati and explained that the increase had contributed to increasing the service hours from 15 to 19 hours.
In further improving access to water services, Eng Rujomba said that the government through low interest loans from the African Development Bank (AfDB) has invested heavily in improving access to clean water and sewage disposal services in the city of Arusha.
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He expounded that until July this year, implementation of a mega water project had reached 90 per cent, where through the implementation of the project, the residents of Arusha had started to benefit from the completed projects.
"Until June 2022, the project had benefited 1,064 citizens by paying them compensation amounting to 5.8bn/- to vacate their areas for the construction of the infrastructure of the said mega project," he said.
According to him, AUWSA had successfully completed the implementation of water projects in Karatu town at a cost of 623.4m/-, as well as a water project in the outskirts of Arusha City courtesy of Covid-19 funds that was provided by President Samia Suluhu Hassan.
AUWSA is a legally established entity responsible for the overall operation and management of water supply and sewerage services in Arusha City.
