Billions 'towards water infrastructure in Kwara'

29 September 2009

The rehabilitation of 78 dams and installation of new pipelines is expected to put an end to the water woes of the Kwara state in Nigeria, the governor has said.

Bukola Saraki told reporters the 8.3 billion Naira (£34.5 million) earmarked for the project should greatly increase the volume of available water, the scarcity of which has been a problem since the new government came to power.

"There was a precarious situation we inherited, there was no water anywhere," he said.

However, Mr Saraki clarified that while this would be an important step towards the state's auto sufficiency, further investment in the region's pumping stations would be needed to bring free-flowing water into households.

The Oyo and Taraba states recently received funding from the African Development Bank to improve their water supply.

Some $78 million was allocated to this project and is expected to benefit the lives of 1.4 million residents.

Category: Water