‘Enugu Metropolis To Enjoy Water By 2012’

Managing Director of the Enugu State Water Corporation, Mr Obrien Ofordu, has said that some parts of the Enugu metropolis where laying of new pipes has been concluded will have pipe-borne water before the end of March, 2012.

Ofordu, who made this known in an interview with newsmen in Enugu on Wednesday listed the areas as Uwani, Idaw-River and Abakpa.

He said the delay in the completion of the pipe laying contract was occasioned by difficulties encountered by the contracting firms in importing and clearing some components required to complete the job.

Ofordu said that Enugu was built with water pipes laid inside peoples’ compounds, making it difficult for the corporation to lay new pipes.

“We are almost completing laying the pipes which we expanded to new layouts and commenced inter-connectivity to compounds. When we complete it, water will flow everywhere in Enugu.

“We are doing the same at Nsukka because the pipes we are replacing now are asbestos laid in 1929,’’ he said.

He explained that due to coal deposits in Enugu State, boreholes could not be constructed in the city, hence they could only get water 44 kilometre away from Enugu and the water had to undergo purification before distribution.

Ofordu said that the state had benefited only about 65 per cent of the World Bank-assisted water projects but was accessing the national urban water rehabilitation project for the state.

He said that provision of water to rural communities was the function of the Enugu State Rural Water and Sanitation Agency (ENRUWASA).

Our correspondent learnt that since the laying of the new pipes in Enugu, some residents have been living without pipe-borne water in the past one year, making them to patronise water vendors.