Agency Sources Funds For Port Harcourt Water Scheme

The Nigeria Urban Water
Sector Reform Programme (NUWSRP) says it requires the sum of 300 million dollars to provide water to Port Harcourt. The project co-ordinator, Mr Benson AJisegiri who said this in an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt at the weekend, also stressed the need for the tier of government to partner with a view to providing water to Nigerians.
He also said that the country was making steady progress in its bid to provide water to the citizenry.
Mr Ajisegiri said that, though urban water supply was expensive, continous efforts were needed to increase access to finance for improving water infrastructure in all parts of Nigeria.
“Urban water supply is very expensive, because it requires you to put in substantial money on infrastructural development.
“This is because you have to build a giant plant, you have to build distribution network which is  to take the water to homes.
The project coordinator blamed rural-urban migration as the biggest challenge to effective water supply.
You will see that in recent time, there has been a high rate of urbarnisation, high influx of rurals urban migration and you find out that the infrastructures have been there for many years.
“It is now under this assistance that we are talking of rehabilitating and expanding them.
“But most of these infrastructures have been there for years before I was born and the population by that time was just less than 10,000,” he said. Mr Ajisegiri, who is also the head, public private partnership, Federal Ministry of water resoruces said the agency was still working on a framework to enhance partnership at implementing projects  at all levels of government.