AMBASSADOR for European (EU) countries last week had a trip to Mwanza, visiting various projects including the on-going Butimba Water Treatment Plant (WTP).
At the site, the Ambassadors expressed their satisfaction over the project advancement, whose construction stage is at over 60 per cent.
EU Ambassador, Mr Manfredo Fanti, said that it was very interesting for the delegation to be there, visiting the installation because the cooperation of the EU and its member states contributed to finance the works to be the pumping and filtration station for the supply of water in Mwanza.
"So it is very interesting for us to come here to see the progress of the works and also to see our cooperation with Tanzania and authorities, particularly Mwanza City, is giving good results," he said, stressing that:
The delegation were impressed by the quality of the site as the work was advancing quickly, with the working team being well organized at the construction area.
He added that it is the ambassadors' hope that the site will be complete by this coming July as it has been decided and therefore bring useful contribution to Mwanza citizens.
A-69bn/-worth Butimba WTP is supervised by the Mwanza Urban Water Supply and Sanitation Authority (Mwauwasa).
Its first phase (in progress) is set to benefit 450,000 residents of Nyegezi, Mkolani, Buhongwa, Lwamina, Fumagila, Sawha, Igoma, Kishiri and Nyamanoro wards.
The delegation also paid the visit at the Simplified Sewerage System project in Pasiansi area (also run by Mwauwasa), with ambassadors once again commending the efforts, after they observed how best the residents on Hills are served with modern waste-outlets and environmental friendly infrastructures.
Mwauwasa Director, Eng. Leonard Msenyele, presented to the delegation on various operations carried out by the Authority in relation with water supply from Lake Victoria.
He said that Mwauwasa has water intakes in four areas, namely Capri Point Intake for Mwanza City, Nyahiti Intake for Misungwi Town, Busulwa Intake for Magu Town as well as Nebuye Intake for Nansio Town in Ukerewe District.
The delegation was also informed on water supply status that the average daily water production is 90 million litres (MLD).
There are three main and 28 minor booster pumping stations, total water storage capacity is 45 MLD, water network length of 1,300 kilometres as well as 104,645 customers.
Again, there are three main pumping stations for waste water management, 13 wastewater stabilisation ponds, and 149.27kilometer sewer network length, with about 5,325 customers being connected to service so far.
It was further noted that the funding required to sustain future development of Mwanza water supply as current water demand is estimated at 160 MLD, whilst the average current production capacity is 90 MLD.
The under construction phase one development at Butimba WTP is set to produce 48 MLD, but will still be insufficient to meet even immediate demands.
This limitation was due to budget constraints under the phase one programme, affirmed Eng. Msenyele, revealing further that the projected future water demand for the year 2045 planning horizon is 350 MLD.
To meet these projected future demands, the developed 'Mwanza Water Supply and Sanitation Master Plan' provides for the expansion of Butimba WTP to its full capacity of 160MLD, and the development of new sources and treatment facilities at Kabangaja in Mwanza North with the capacity of 160MLD, together with associated water transmission and distribution infrastructures to meet the projected demands of 350MLD.
"The estimated cost of these planned works is 280 million Euro," said Eng. Msenyele.
The delegation also had a meeting with Mwanza Regional Commissioner (RC), Mr Adam Malima, who commended ambassadors' trip to visit various projects, institutions and interact with some community groups in the region.
The RC at the same time commended financial support under the joint finance Programme that made a total of 136 million Euro, with the European Investment Bank (EIB) contributing 45 million Euro, Agence Française de Développement (AFD) 75 million Euro and Tanzanian Government (GoT) 16 million Euro.
Part of the finance has been used for Butimba WTP, while some amount will be used for Mwanza South Water Supply project that will be covering all the areas extending from Buhongwa, Sahwa, Fumagila, Kisesa, Nyashishi and Usagara.
"There is more support in different areas as well, such as health and infrastructure. We also appreciate the planned interventions under the forthcoming three components.
"The three are Water Security and Climate Resilience, Green Infrastructure as well as Local Economic Development, which are timely and will address many challenges facing our people and coincides with the current Five year development plan," he said.
According to him, component one has an allocation of 75 million Euro, out of which 70 million Euro is set to be channeled to Ilemela Municipal and Mwanza City, Tanga and the rest in Zanzibar.
Component two will be granted a total of 40 million Euro to be used for financing infrastructures outlined in Local Government Authorities (LGAs) Master Plans but with possibilities of attracting more finances as soft loan from ADF and EIB.
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Again, he added, component three which has to do with local economic development will receive a grant of 12 million Euro, for covering among other things, local skills development in collaboration with Vocational Education and Training Authority (VETA), Fisheries Education and Training Agency (FETA) and other similar institutions as well as support to those groups to access funds for supporting their income generating activities.
The delegation sought to be informed on various issues, including youth employment situation in Mwanza, with Mr Malima responding that:
Various economic programmes have been introduced given the fact that the majority are nowadays immigrating to Mwanza.
He revealed that GoT has been setting aside the funds for programmes especially in Agriculture and Fishing sectors, with a good number of youth being targeted to grab the opportunities.
In addition, all Councils do set aside 10 percent of their domestic revenues for free interest loans to youth, to support their investments.
"It is now a time for effective and full utilization of Lake Victoria for fishing activities," responded the RC.
