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Ministry Hails LLWB Work

The Ministry of Water and Sanitation has applauded the work by the Lilongwe Water Board under Lilongwe Water and Sanitation Project, saying it will help Malawi attaining UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 6 of providing all people with clean water by 2030.

Minister of Water and Sanitation Abida Mia was speaking in Lilongwe as she presided over the commissioning of two storage facilities and a pump tower station built to improve sanitation in the Lilongwe, one of the four components of the project.

The objectives of that component include increase access to potable water, increase hours of water supply and improve water supply pressure.

The ministry believes that as the country battles cholera, network rehabilitation as well as expansion of water facilities is vital, she said.

“I am very impressed with great pleasure with the increase in water supply as the people around Lilongwe City South and City Centre will have access to clean water from the tremendous job that Lilongwe Water Board is doing,” Mia said.

Mia has also called on donor partners to help ministry reach out to rural areas with clean water.

“This is why we are talking to our donor partners; we have managed to come up with plans of how we can make sure that people in the rural areas have access to clean water. We are looking at solar powered treatment plants that is our policy change recommended by President Lazarus Chakwera,” she added.

Chief Executive Officer for LWB Silli Mbewe said the board is optimistic that they will surpass the target to supply 500,000 beneficiaries: 250, 000 with improved water services and the other 250, 000 with improved sanitation services.

“If we are looking at the time flames, we still have some time to go, remember this project is still going as far as December but looking at the number that we have reached….in terms of the first phase we are almost done,” he said.

Alice Kandaya, one of the beneficiaries praised the initiative by LWB saying it has eased water challenges they used to face in her area, Area 25, Sector 3 in Lilongwe.

“We used to have water cut offs almost every day and the pressure was very low pressure but with the coming of this initiative we have seen an improvement as we now have water all day,” she explained.

The project is funded by the World Bank, whose Country Director Hugh Ridell expressed satisfaction with the way LWB is executing the project adding that water is a priority in achieving the Malawi 2063 agenda.

“We happy with the project; the quality of the infrastructure is good and also good customer response is showing that the project is going on well,” he said.

He added that there should be reforms in the financing of the project to extend the project to other areas of the country.

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Last modified on Thursday, 06/10/2022

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