Adjumani town finally gets water

Criticism. Some residents, however, say despite being connected to piped water, the taps are always dry.

The long-awaited Shs3.5 billion urban water project has been completed, paving the way for Adjumani residents to get clean and safe water.
However, questions are being raised on the quality of the work done. Technical commissioning of the project was done on Saturday despite numerous concerns raised by district officials and consumers in Adjumani Town Council.

The concerns centre on shoddy work during the two-year project that was funded by the government and donors under the Water and Sanitation Facility Development for northern Uganda.
A few days after commissioning the project, Third Deputy Premier Moses Ali said the work was done shoddily and must be corrected.
“How can the residents continue grappling with water shortage even after finishing the water project which the government has fully funded?” he asked.
Before its completion, the project stalled due to the design and late funding.

A resident of Central II Village, Mr Joseph Akuku, said his home was connected to piped water at Shs50,000 a week before the commissioning but the tap was dry.

However, Mr Richard Matua, a principal engineer in the Ministry of Water and Environment denied the work was done poorly.

Shoddy work?
“The contractor has substantially completed the work with 926 new connections but the problem of leakages, air locks and faulty pipes stopping water from flowing to other villages will be worked on within a week,” he said.

The Town Clerk, Mr Samuel Lagu, said the technical staff and some district leaders had verified the work was “perfectly done”.

A jerrycan of water will cost Shs50, down from Shs400.
The town council authority has handed over the project to APT services, a private company, contracted to supply water to the town residents.

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