Ebonyi State Government is to spend N2.1 billion on the rehabilitation of water facilities to meetthewater needsofresidents ofthe state.

Governor David Umahi stated this in Abakalikion Thursdaywhile flagging off the state’sSustainable Development Goals(SDG) water projects in the three senatorial zones of the state, which he dubbed “Operation Water Ebonyi State.”

Addressing the people during the ceremony, the governor said Ebonyi was among the 10 lucky states that accessed the SDG grant of N600 million each.

According to the governor, the beneficiary states were expected to match the grant with additional N600 million each in order to access the fund. He explained thatEbonyidid not only do so, it also injected additional N900 million into the pool, thereby havingthe N2.1 billion for the water projects.

The sum, he added, would be used to fixthe Ezillo water plant,the Sacamori Water Station,the Juju hill water scheme and the Ohaozara Water Station.

A statementon Fridayby his Chief Press Secretary, Emma Anya, quoted Umahi as saying, “Let me put it properly that Federal Government gave N600 million and we were expected to match it with another N600 million.

“We did and we also provided another N900 million. So all together, the three lots of the projects aregoing to be costing us about N2.1 billion.

“Let me say that the scope of this job is, partone, rehabilitation of Ezillo water treatment plant, and Sacamori pipe linenetwork facilities. We tend to have storage tanks in Ichichi Forest, which will supply theFederal University at Ndufu Alike, supply the local government of Ikwo, supply some areas in Izzi, supply our rice mill and that of Engr. Ugwu as we make efforts to get our rice millers to also take over the UNIDO rice mill.

“The Sacamori pipeline has its network through Ezza North, Ezza south, Ishielu, Izzi, Ohaukwu, and even FUNAI.

“We want to do proper integration of Ezillo water scheme and that of Oferekpe to ensure that if we have problem with Oferekpe and itis shut down, Ezillo will start supplying. But mostimportantly is the distribution network in Abakaliki.”

Umahi also revealed that the third partis to address the water challenges in Ohaozara, stating that already, there is awater treatment plant in the area.

“The third one is to address the water challenges in Ohaozara. Already, we have water treatment plant there.So what we want to do is to build a storage tank at Agukwu and build another storage tank at Ugwulangwu. So with these two storage tanks, we cannetwork the entire Okposi, Uburu andUgwulangwu.”

The governor, wholaudedPresident Muhammadu Buhari and the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babacir Lawal,forincluding Ebonyi State as a beneficiary of thegrant,the aforementioned projects constituted the first major phase ofthe “Operation Water Ebonyi State.”

He also disclosed thatthe Ishiagu water project hadbeenredesigned and re- awarded to a competent contractor at the cost of N1.2 billion, stressing that the arrangement was to integrate all water projects.

He stated that theOferekpe and Ukawu water scheme would be completely ready to provide water. Umahi alsoemphasised that the distribution process of the pipelines had alreadystarted.

“We juststarted a process to do some distribution network of our pipelines. And I have directed Ministry of Water resources to immediately tell us the balance of the distribution, so that within the next one year, we should beat our chests and say, everybody, especially within the capital city is drinking water,” he said.

The governorassured the remaining local government areas that are not benefiting in the SDG water projects that they wouldbe considered in other areas such as provision of electricity.

He frowned at poor quality of some road project being handled by some contractors inthe state and warned that any contractor who was not ready to keep to specification and standard wouldbe shown the way out.

•Photo showsGovernorUmahi.