HYPPADEC partners Niger govt. to rehabilitate moribund water scheme

The Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission (HYPPADEC) says it is collaborating with the Niger government to rehabilitate the New Bussa water scheme in Borgu Local Government Area of the state.

Alhaji Abubakar Yelwa, Managing Director, HYPPADEC, disclosed this on Wednesday in New Bussa during an inspection of the on-going rehabilitation of the facilities.

“This project is the rehabilitation of the New Bussa water scheme, where the town has been out of water for 20 years.

“Since water is life, the community and the Niger state government felt we should address the water issue first.

“We had a meeting with the Niger State Water Board and Sewage Corporation and agreed that this is something that can be done. After due process HYPPADEC decided to fund the project,” he said.

Yelwa said that the rehabilitation which started seven months ago would be completed and inaugurated in November this year.

He expressed satisfaction with the level of job done so far by the contractor.

“I am satisfied with the level of work done so far because we have engineers from the state water board and HYPPADEC.

“They have all confirmed that the activities of the contractor are in line with the specification of the contract,” he said.

The Managing Director said the replaced machines were obsolete and non-functional, hence the need to replace them with modern ones that would serve the people better.

“We replaced high and low lift water pumps and valves with new ones.

“The intake of water reservoirs and water storage tanks were also improved upon to allow many villages access to potable water,” he said.

He said aside from rehabilitation of the New Bussa water scheme, there was rehabilitation of the Yauri water scheme in Kebbi.

He explained that this was so, because they were the two towns that were displaced as a result of the Kainji Hydroelectric Dam project.

Yelwa said the rehabilitation which would gulp N1.6 billion each in Niger and Kebbi states was a contribution between the commission and the two states and their benefiting local governments.

The six states HYPPADEC operates are Niger, Kogi, Benue, Kwara Plateau and Kebbi are contributing five per cent of their statutory allocation to the activities of the commission.

Similarly, Mr Gimba Yisa, Acting Managing Director, Niger State Water and Sewage Corporation said the on-going rehabilitation was holistic, which included provision of new water pumps designed to provide adequate water for the people.

“It involves the establishment of a new booster pump station, extension of the water distribution pipeline and general maintenance of the transmission pipeline,” he said.

Yisa said that over 16,000 households in the area would benefit from the water scheme.

Earlier, Mr Kokobissi Outare, Managing Director, KSB Pumps Nigeria Ltd, one of the contractors handling installation of the water pumps, said the pumps were designed to supply 500,000 litres of water per hour to the treatment plant.

Outare expressed optimism that the rehabilitation work which had reached 60 per cent completion would be completed and inaugurated by the end of November this year.

Mrs Mary Garba, a resident of the area who expressed joy over the project, said that they have been without portable water for years.

Garba thanked the state government and HYPPADEC for the initiative.

Our correspondent reports that the New Bussa community is hosting the Kainji hydroelectric dam and the Kainji lake.