The Eastern Equatoria State government Tuesday inked a deal with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to rehabilitate and expand the water system in Torit Municipal Council.
The six months’ water rehabilitation and extension project to be implemented for one million dollars, is expected to ensure residents within Torit town have access to clean drinking water near their households.
The agreement was reached between the state ministry of housing, lands, and public utilities and the New Tech Consulting Company contracted by UNICEF.
Luka Charles Jakarlo, the state minister for housing underscored the importance of cooperation in the delivery of services to the people of the state.
“Let us cooperate, the government here is ready to support you, if it means in terms of security, we are ready, the mayor is here and I as a minister am also here, we can support you at all means. Actually, this work should be a joint work, a teamwork that needs to involve the ministry, our partners, supporting partners, and even this committee of Urban Water, they are here with us working together,” he said. “Let us work together as a team to make sure that this project succeeds.
For his part, Torit Municipal Council Mayor Joseph Ayee Joseph Oswaha pledged to support the implementation of the project and called on the c
“I have my people here, I think if you can include them for manual work or labor. You should come and consider the youth here and employ them,” he said.
Burhan Ahmed El Mustafa who spoke on behalf of the New Tech Consulting Company said engineers will visit the site soon and promised that they will deliver in time.
Meanwhile, UNICEF’s WASH specialist Michael Banga urges the project’s partners to develop a sustainable plan to ensure that people always have access to clean drinking water.
“We should be thinking of what we can do beyond the six months. So the ministry, the municipal, and the New Tech, we should begin to develop plans and that we need to sustain this project,” he said.
Banga suggested that the local youth be trained to manage the water system in Torit.