Dar es Salaam recieves financial assistance for water projects

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, has received financial assistance from the Indian government in the form of a $178m loan to implement various water projects and reduce the water scarcity problem in the city.

Partly owned and controlled by the government, the Dar es Salaam Water and Sewerage Authority DAWASA, the city’s water supply and sewerage service provider, will use the loan to execute the water projects.

DAWASA is expecting to use the financial aid to upgrade its water plants to increase production capacity, build pipelines for distribution and construct a distribution network in the city.

Dar es salaam Water and Sewerage Corporation (DAWASCO) technical services acting director Romanus Mwang’ingo was quoted by All Africa as saying that the authority is expecting to end the water scarcity problem by 2014.

"Once we start implementing the project, our program will go hand in hand with the installation of more efficient water pumps at both Upper and Lower Ruvu stations," Mwang’ingo added.

"Due to the low capacity or our systems, there has been a huge scarcity of water supply to Dar es Salaam residents. Some get water twice a week while others do not get it at all. If the financing is adequate, we also plan to build distribution networks to customers since many customers are not catered for."

The authority is planning to increase the production capacity of the Upper Ruvu plant from the current 82,000m³ per day to 196,000m³ per day.

DAWASCO is also working towards upgrading the Lower Ruvu plant to increase its capacity from the existing 180,000m³ per day to 270,000m³ per day.

The project, supported by US foreign aid agency Millennium Challenge, is expected to be completed in March 2013.

DAWASA is also finalising an engineer to drill 20 boreholes at Kimbiji in the Temeke Municipality and at Mpera in Mkuranga to generate 260,000m³ per day.

The project is supported by World Bank’s fund of $15m.

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Image: Tanzania city of Dar es Salaam will use funds to complete water projects in the city and improve water supply. Photo: Shizhao