The chairman Senate Committee on FCT, Senator Dino Melaye, has awarded contracts for the construction and rehabilitation of over 100 boreholes in the seven Local Government Areas of Kogi West Senatorial District.

Melaye in a statement issued by his media Aide, Mr. Gideon Ayodele, said it was a way to ameliorate the suffering of the people of the constituency in getting access to potable water supply.

“Generally, the level of water supply in our communities is poor. The situation is pathetic in the rural areas where water is either scarce or costly when it is available. Many people trek several kilometres every morning and evening in search of water, while others depend on polluted water from ponds, streams, rainwater and floods for domestic use, thereby increasing health hazard,” he said.

Melaye further observed that safe water and sanitation remain the essential indicators of sustainable development.

According to him, the United Nations General Assembly, at its Millennium Meeting in 2000, established eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with targets to be achieved by 2015, with the aim of speeding up poverty alleviation and socio-economic development.

The MDGs, he said, were elaborated and endorsed by the intergovernmental community at the World Summit on Sustainable Development.

The Senator said: “It is strongly believed that water quality management contributes both directly and indirectly to achieving the targets set out in all eight MDGs, although it is most closely tied to specific targets of the goal No. 7 which is to ensure environmental sustainability.

“Adequate water supply is synonymous with development whether it is urban or rural. In the rural areas or in the city peripheries water is either scarce or costly when it is available.”

While saying all these informed his determination to work in this direction, Melaye assured the people of Kogi West of his determination to deliver dividends of democracy to their doorsteps.

•Photo shows Senator Dino Melaye.

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