Anambra Signs $44m pact with South Africa to end water scarcity in Onitsha

Days after attracting businesses from China and Golden Tulip from Switzerland, the Governor of Anambra State, Chief Willie Obiano, has signed a $44 million agreement with a South African firm, EOH Industrial Technologies, to bring the seemingly intractable water problem in the commercial city of Onitsha to an end.
The agreement is major part of Governor Obiano’s effort to fulfil his campaign promise to the residents of Onitsha, who have been bearing the brunt of acute scarcity of potable water for decades, even when the city nestles in the middle of many rivers and waterways.
The Onitsha Water Project is to be executed in three phases, which will include the revitalisation and expansion of the Onitsha Water Scheme, which entails conducting a feasibility study, inventory audit and calibration, reactivating the intake facility at Nkpor water treatment plant and the Nkissi treatment plant at Onitsha, rehabilitating the mains, pipelines, pumps, valves, reservoirs, boreholes and the reticulated tributaries to the households in all areas of Onitsha metropolis.
It was also agreed that the South African firm would complete the infrastructure and metering development and agree on concessional terms that would be determined based on the amount of investment made and rates charged.
Offering insight into the agreement with EOH Industrial Technologies Governor Obiano described the project as “very strategic” because as one of the most populous cities in Africa, Onitsha requires some modernisation in its infrastructure and other basic amenities.
Governor Obiano further explained that the pact with the South Africans was coming on the heels of his administration’s efforts to revamp 376 water schemes across the three senatorial districts in the state built by previous administrations in partnership with the UNESCO but which had gone into a state of disrepair and assured that they would be up and running in less than six months’ time.
The governor urged the investor to hit the ground running in order to ensure that the project is completed on schedule and save residents of Onitsha and its environs the agony of scrounging potable water all over the place.
In his own remarks, the Chairman of ANSIPPA and traditional ruler of Umuoji, Igwe Cyril Enweze, said during construction and upon completion, the project would offer a lot of benefits to the state, including provision of potable water to the people and prevention of water-borne diseases.
Igwe Enweze also revealed that the water project would create 600 direct and 3000 indirect jobs and would help to boost the internally generated revenue of the state.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Managing Director of the investing company, Mr. Mokosi Mokosi, acknowledged that the partnership presented them with a viable opportunity to work closely with Anambra State towards achieving the goal of addressing the water challenges of people of Onitsha and its environs.
A Divisional Director of the investing company, Mr. Glen Benson, also assured Ndi Anambra that they would deploy every resources within their disposal to achieve a successful implementation of the MoU.
In a vote of thanks, the Commissioner for Power and Domestic Water Development, Mr. Obi Nwankwo, thanked the governor for making it possible for investors to troop into the state by ensuring that state was secure enough, noting that on completion, over one million households in the Onitsha Zone were  expected to benefit from the water project.