By Dada Ahmed in Lokoja.
The Kogi State Commissioner for Water Resources,Engr.Yahaya MD Faruk has assured kogites that the current administration, under the leadership of Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo and his Ministry are not sleeping over the scarcity of portable water in Lokoja and its environs.
This is because the governor,
had given his strong political will to actualise the restoration,sooner than later.
Engr. Faruk, who gave the assurance during a press conference in his office on Friday in Lokoja,attributed the delay in getting the facility back on track to many factors.
The Commissioner,who described the Greater Lokoja Water Treatment as one of the best in Nigeria , added that it had the capacity to pump 10 million gallons of water per day with provision to expand that to 15 million gallons of water for the same day.
He, however,noted with regret that the October 2022 flooding in Lokoja submerged most of the vital equipment of the facility, including four electro mechanical equipment with health cost, adding that the development brought the treatment and supply of potable water to a halt.
Engr.Faruk also told the journalists that equipment needed to be replaced to put the facility back on optimal work are very expensive.
He said the state government,in its avowed determination to restore water to Lokoja is presently considering three options in achieving such ambition.
According to him, the government is considering either to outrightly locate the site of the Greater Lokoja Water Treatment, the cost of which he disclosed stands between N120 billion and N150 billion,minus reticulation.
The second option,he added, is the possibility of relocating the two major flood prone sections of the facility at the cost of between N70 billion and N90 billion to execute.
According to the commissioner,the third option has is the raising of the equipment of the facility above the flood level of 2022, pointing out that this dream project also runs into billions of naira.
Fielding questions from journalists after the press conference, the commissioner disclosed that the state government intends to contact the Federal Ministry of Water Resources on the issue.
He also said that government would look into the possibility of Public Private Partnership,PPP or direct financing,with a view to spreading payment of the contractor that would handle the work to get the facility back on track.
Farouk said that while efforts were on for the restoration of potable water to residents, his ministry had embarked on the rehabilitation of the Old Lokoja Water Works to supply healthy water to some areas among other interim measures,pending when the Greater Lokoja Water Treatment would be back for operation.
