By: Yusuf M Hasan
ERIGAVO (Somalilandsun) – Over a thousand households in El-afweyne district will start consuming clean and safe drinking water.
This development comes after the ministry of Water, Energy and Minerals-MME&M commissioned a 350 metres borehole in the town fully funded by the central government in Hargeisa.
A large number of residents among them civic and traditional leaders witnessed the borehole digging which the ministry’s director general Mr. Saeed Jibril Jama launched from El-afweyne district in Sanaag region.
According to DG Saeed Jibril, the borehole is a result of the water and energy ministry’s policy that gears towards provision of clean and safe drinking water to all citizens everywhere in the country.
While revealing that the borehole will bear a depth of 350 metres the DG informed that, his ministry was sure that the quantity of water would cover all the domestic needs of area residents since the site was chosen after careful survey.
“In order for you to secure regular safe water supply, I urge you to utilize the water for domestic use only and not for your livestock” said the DG.
The mayor of El-afweyne Councillor Mursal Askar Mire who thanked the
Government for sponsoring the borehole said that the local administration would ensure that the residents utilize the water as required once digging is completed.
The ministry’s Sanaag region coordinator Mr. Abokor Hasan Hussein informed that the new borehole in El-afweyne joins other in the region that the government and other benefactors have sponsored.
Sanaag region that is the largest region in Somaliland seems to have missed development activities for reasons only known to the various administrations in the country.
While residents of the region not only waste valuable man-hours in search of water and go hungry as well The region has a lot of un tapped underground and is the best suited agricultural area in the entire country.
Former vibrant farmers in the region are now producing for family consumption due to none existent markets for their produce due to the poor network of roads and unchecked imports of locally available farm products.
The government that needs to urgently make a rethink on the Erigavo-Burao road development should also place laws that protect local producers against imports that are known to be the main contributor of prevalent unemployment and poverty.
It beats all when the country imports Milk, Fish, Honey and eggs when these four produce are cheaply available locally.
With report contributions by Reporter Mohamed Saraf in Erigavo
