The District Head of Dutsen-Alhaji in the Bwari Area Council of the FCT, Alhaji Abubakar Bako, has said that communities in his district have been without potable water despite providing the land where the FCT Water Board's treatment plant was built at the Lower Usuma Dam.
Abuja Metro reports that the dam, with about four water treatment plants, supplies potable water to Abuja's city center and other areas in the nation's capital.
The district head spoke with Abuja Metro shortly after hosting some traditional leaders, including village and ward heads, as well as some elders within the district, who paid him homage during the just-concluded Eid-el-fitr festivity.
He also said, even though Ushafa community is closer to the dam, his district remains the hosting community with the transmission pipelines crossing through areas like Baupma, Bmuko, Jabu, Sagwari, Dutse-Pei and Dawaki.
"Yet all these areas are without access to the water from the dam," the chief lamented.
"The dam was constructed in 1979, during President Shagari's administration, and thereafter we were taken to the engineering department in the FCDA where we were told that we can't access water from the pipelines that crossed through our community to the Abuja city centre.
"We were promised that a provision would be made to construct a tank at Dawaki, which would serve our area.
"But all they could do so far is to supply the pipes to the new housing estates located on the edge of our communities, and extend others to the new areas like Karsana and Kubwa, among others, while the hosting areas that are mainly occupied by the original inhabitants were neglected," the chief lamented.
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He also noted that various complaints and subsequent follow-ups to the FCT Water Board's headquarters in Abuja and to the FCDA have yielded no results.
Also speaking, The Wambai of Dutsen-Alhaji, Alhaji Muhammadu Bala, said the people in the community have been relying on commercial borehole providers to meet their water needs which, according to him, cost them huge amounts of money on a daily basis.
Reacting, the General Manager, FCT Water Board, Mr Daniel Salka, said the FCT administration had embarked on a project to connect more areas with water through the Greater Abuja Water Work project.
He said that would include constructing tank 1, and 6 at the Dawaki community which, he said, would provide water to areas like Dutsen-Alhaji once the project is completed.
The GM said the company that handles the project recently wrote a letter on resuming the work soon.
"I am sure once the project is completed, it is going to address many water challenges in the FCT," he added.
