18 January 2023: The Federal Government of Somalia has handed over 11 rehabilitated Juba River breakage sites in Dolow (4 sites) and Bardere (7 sites) districts of Jubbaland State to local administrations in order to take the ownership and continuous maintenance of the rehabilitated infrastructure to address the recurring floods that have had a negative impact on farming and pastoralist communities and affected more than 500,000 people.
These floods have a significant impact on our country's food production because they destroy farms every year. In addition to the losses inflicted by floods on farming communities, the crisis instills discouragement in farming communities, jeopardizing the country's food chain.
The rehabilitated river breakage infrastructure is part of 124 river breakage sites along Jubba and Shabelle rivers implemented through the Somalia Crises Recovery Project (SCRP) which is a flood and disaster recovery, and reconstruction project financed by the World Bank via the Federal Ministry of Finance (MOF) and Co-managed with the Ministry of Planning, Investment and Economic Development.
The SCRP Project implementation Unit (PIU) led by the Project Coordinator Ali Haji Adan and Project Co-manager Abdi Tawane handed over 11 rehabilitated river breakage sites of these two districts in Jubbaland State and advised the local administrations to preserve, monitor, and maintain the rehabilitated river breakage sites where necessary, as their responsibilities included preserving such critical facilities for the local people.
"The project was developed in response to a request from the local communities, coordinated with the sector Ministries at Federal and member states (FMS), and the Local administration. It is our pleasure to finally hand over these rehabilitated river breakage sites to the local authorities, we hope that these investments will protect the livelihood of the communities from future flooding to ensure a long-term solution to the effects of the Shabele and Juba River flooding," SCRP Project Coordinator: Ali Haji said.
State Project Team Coordinator Osman Hassan urged "The local government authorities, farmers associations and the larger community to take ownership of these valuable infrastructures of river embankments and related climate resilient activities implemented in their respective areas and as such maintain them to prevent future recurrencies of flood related disasters".
Weli Yusuf Abdullahi 'Qorah,' Commissioner of the Bardere District, complimented the Federal Government of Somalia for devising an effective solution that differed from prior interventions, which only handled the emergency issues that existed at the time of the problem.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
"It is a new approach of encouraging people to be self-sufficient and investing in projects that assist the locals achieve food sufficiency by protecting their farms from the effects of floods. Reducing river flooding equals increased production and societal stability," he continued.
Adan Barre Ali 'Adan Madobe,' Deputy District Commissioner of Dolow, who took over four of the rehabilitated river embankments, also emphasized the importance of this project to the local people, as it provided a long-term solution for controlling flood water from the river, which is vital for livelihoods.
The completion of these 11 sites of River embankment coincides with Jiilaal's dry spell season, providing farming communities with an excellent opportunity to prepare for and efficiently exploit the upcoming rainy season.
END
