13th November, 2018
The Delta Commissioner for Water Resources, Mr Fidelis Tilije, on Tuesday, said the state had 630 functional water schemes across the three senatorial districts.
Tilije made the disclosure during the 2019 Budget Defence meeting with the State House of Assembly Committee on Water Resources in Asaba.
According to him, out of the 900 water schemes in the state, 630 are functional and this number represents 70 per cent.
“On assumption of office by the present administration, the state had 706 water schemes out of which 280 were functional,’’ he said.
On the Effurun Water scheme, which is a Public Private Partnership (PPP) model, Tilije said that the project had attracted huge private investment of N13 billion.
The commissioner said that the project was aimed at resuscitating and providing safe water to more than 16,000 households through prepaid water meters.
Tilije noted that the project remained a flagship and indeed the first water supply PPP model not only in the state but in the country.
The commissioner also noted that within the last three years, the state had paid its counterpart contribution totalling N705 million.
According to him, the payment represents its partnership with EU and UNICEF and attracted grants of more than N3 billion from the EU toward improving water supply in the state.
As part of the concerted efforts at improving water supply especially to urban centres, Tilije said that more than 3, 000 households would be connected through prepaid meters in the first phase.
On the 2018 budget, the commissioner, said that N1.6 billion was approved, saying that N430 million was released as at Oct. 3, representing 27 per cent.
He said that the ministry was proposing a 2019 budget that would be 0.2 per cent higher than the 2018 approved budget.
Responding, the Chairman of the committee, Mr Samuel Mariere, directed the ministry to furnish the committee with all the projects awarded under the ministry’s EU partnership projects in the state.
Mariere also directed the State Urban Water Board to furnish the committee with details of its projects and budget performance for 2018.