The Bayelsa State Government has presented a cheque of N422 million as counterpart fund for joint N1.2 billion UNICEF, EU and World Bank water projects for 200 communities in the state.
Presenting the instrument to the representative of the three international bodies in Abuja, Governor Seriake Dickson said the figure represented 30 per cent of the total cost of the project.
He said “we have selected 200 communities in Bayelsa principally from two local government areas, so the EU, UNICEF and World Bank are contributing about N700 million.
“The state government is putting N422 million into the project, representing about 30 per cent of the cost.
“In fact, the key element of this agreement which for us is unquantifiable, is not the money that these bodies are providing but the technical expertise they are bringing to the table.”
The governor, however, said it would please its administration more if the agreement was expanded to include 250 communities before the end of the year.
“The challenge with Bayelsa is that while we have water everywhere, we rarely have clean water to drink. The chunk of the water is salty.
“The administration had constructed a number of water projects in some land locked communities but these were not enough. I think, this effort will go a long way to ease the pressure on us.
“This is why I have requested that another counterpart funding arrangement be struck within the year to for 250 more communities to be captured,’’ he said.
Dickson further said that every community in the state must be given access to some safe drinking water.
“This should happen in the life of this administration, even if it is one tap running, because the situation these communities manage remained really acute and disheartening.
“The administration is committed to providing potable water to all communities in the state within the next three years,’’ the governor said.