By: Osman A.M.
HARGEISA (Somalilandsun) – Presidency minister Hon. Hersi Ali Hassan has assured city dwellers of advanced Government’s plans that are intended to relieve Hargeisans of frequent water shortages which has of late exacerbated.
The minister made the disclosure while appearing before the House of Representatives towards the end of last year averring that the Government has taken a collective responsibility on the best approach of accessing sufficiently clean tap water to inhabitants of the city.
Mr. Hirsi gave a lengthy speech by then on behalf of the President before the August house and it is our humble considerations that we refresh the verbatim excerpt of the same for our online readers’ perusal.
“Hon. Members the ruling regime of this country has in the past tirelessly planned the best possible ways of availing access to sufficient clean & safe water in all administrative regions of Somaliland Republic. It is our sincere intentions that every citizen access taps water at their door steps though part of the broader plans are still in progress but again water wells have been constructed at designated points throughout the regions of the Republic.
Let me begin with the capital city which is a home to majority of the national population. The Gedeble pipe system that supplies water to city residents has a current capacity of pumping 9000m3 of water daily. Though this quantity cannot sufficiently quench thirst of city dwellers whose population has tremendously increased plans are however at advanced stage to accelerate its pumping capacity to 24000m3 despite water engineers advising that due to the location of the well it can only pump 14000m3 of the essential commodity daily. We are of the view that its pumping capacity can at least be raised to 16000m3 of water daily and if this is achieved then it would double the current intake of city residents.
Additional plans in furtherance of this target are also in pipeline as the Government is vigorously embarking in pipe water systems to places where none existed initially albeit securing funds to cater for the project. In the same way we are planning to construct additional water wells in other parts of the city so as to supplement the supply of this vital commodity by reinforcing the over powered Gedeble water pipe systems that at the moment receives water from one source of well. The project also entails fixing pressure pumps to reinforce pumping water faster within a short time.
We have already initiated a project named Haraf by successfully completing 95% of the said project which is intended to supply water to Ayah 1, 2, 3 & 4 areas mostly resided by vulnerable members of the society comprising of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
Hon members, it is my pleasure to inform you that the buck does not stops there as Humbo Weyne, a project involving construction of 13 water wells that has been ongoing for sometimes now with an intended aim of further supplying water to other parts of the city has bored fruits.
It is imperative to note that the President in his official tour of Arabian Gulf States & particularly the visit to United Arab Emirates (UAE) asked for aid to facilitate completing the project that would see supply of water to areas where the lively commodity was unavailable before thus leading to quantification & subsequent acceptance of the offer. It is therefore our humble prayers that the project shall kick start very soon God-willingly.
In nutshell the constructed wells are equipped with manual pressure pumps that forcefully accelerate pumping employing less energy thence saving manpower & time. This is what is known as mini system.
Hon. Members, allow me to briefly list the number of wells & that of mini systems fully constructed in each region of the Republic.
Region No. of wells No. of mini system
Maroodi Jeh 4 9
Togdher 12 17
Sahil 7 17
Sool 4 12
Sanag 6 13
In total the numbers of constructed wells are 51. The Gedeble project is estimated to cost $ 28 million with funding from EU. In the same vein the Government is embarking to increase pumping water by constructing more wells equally throughout the nation in meeting its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Thank you Hon. Members”.
