Gov. Bala Muhammed of Bauchi State on Thursday flagged-off commencement of work on a $72 million (N21.8 billion) World Bank Water Project in Firo, a suburb of Bauchi metropolis of the state.
Muhammed said at the occasion that the project included the rehabilitation of a dam , water treatment plants, reservoirs, laying of pipelines and installation of meters, among others.
He explained that the dam was constructed in 1980 to provide one million gallons of water, but was later upgraded in 1994 to provide 10 million gallons because of the increase in population.
The governor further explained that the dam needed to be upgraded to provide 75 millions gallons of water, following the influx of people from neighboring states, which had over-stretched the existing facilities.
He said that work on the project was expected to be completed in 2021, just as he commended his predecessors, whom he said, initiated the project in 2015.
The Permanent Secretary, State Ministry for Water Resources, Alhaji Umar Shehu, had earlier said that the World Bank had contributed $65.5 millions US Dollars while the state government contributed $6.5 million US Dollars as counterpart fund for the project. (NAN)
