NAN-H-117
Water
By Kabir Muhammad
Abuja, Jan. 30, 2017 (NAN) FCT Minister Muhammad Bello has called on the Federal Ministry of Water Resources to build more dams in the territory.
Bello made the call on Monday when he received the Minister of Water Resources, Alhaji Suleiman Adamu, on a working visit to the FCT minister.
According to him, the dams, if constructed, can be used for agricultural purposes to upscale the living standard of residents of the territory.
The minister said that the construction of new dams in the Federal Capital Territory would go a long way in improving economic activities in the council areas where farming activities majorly take place.
He added that “as you know, Abuja is endowed with a lot of water resources and we have areas that are potential dam locations.
“So, when you review your ongoing projects and you reach a point where you want to carry out new ones, please consider the FCT among your new areas.”
He added that the relationship between the Ministry of Water Resources and the FCT Administration had been cordial and beneficial to Abuja City and the Territory in general.
He noted that water supply for Abuja and the greater Abuja environment was from the Lower Usuma Dam which was being supported from the Gurara Dam during dry season.
He said “as you know, the Lower Usuma Dam was designed in such a way that Gurara Dam would provide support at some specific period in the year with additional raw water supply to be able to cater for the city.
“This support had been crucial to us, especially as the city continue to expand,
with more districts being opened and with enormous water reticulation being done.
“This water supply is done through a pipeline that is about 75 kilometres long, which is quite extensive.”
The Gurara Dam Water Project, Nigeria’s largest and pioneer water transfer scheme is a multipurpose project for water supply, hydro power generation, irrigation and ancillary uses.
The purpose of the project is to enhance the use of the Gurara River in Kaduna State by storing, regulating and controlling the flow of the river and its main affluent.
This would effect the delivery of specified quantities of water to the Designated Outlet Point for the FCT water supply and the duration of the project was from 2001 to 2011.
The FCT minister said Gurara had been providing water to FCT every year, noting that “we get supplementary water from the Gurara Dam, with the approval of the minister.”
Earlier, the water resources minister had told Bello that the Gurara pipeline project was initiated basically to feed the Lower Usuma Dam to augment the storage of the Dam, especially during the dry season.
He said that his team was in FCTA because the Gurara Water Transfer project was finished many years ago by the contractor.
Adamu said there had not been any effort to take over the project, either by Water Resources Ministry or FCTA, thereby making a contract that was hundred per cent completed not closed.
“When I assumed duty in November 2015, I became interested in this project as I was
briefed on ongoing projects because of the status of the project; it had finished but
authorities had not taken over its management.
“I was made to understand that there was a Joint Committee between the FCTA and the Federal Ministry of Water Resources working on how to take over the project but not much work had been done on that.”
He added that the committee had, however, been reactivated and made to interface with the contractor.
Adamu, an engineer, said one of the key issues was that the contractor had been maintaining the pipeline for several years, but had not been paid. (NAN)
KM/HA
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