The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Wakiso district has launched the first completed phase of the solar water project constructed in the Islands of Bussi sub-county that was started last year.
While launching the project in Bussi sub county, the Wakiso chairperson Matia Lwanga Bwanika said that putting clean water in the Islands of Bussi is a great improvement of the district and to the people of the Bussi sub-county.
Bwanika says that they are planning to develop the islands of Bussi to become a tourist center where people can come and visit and that the project is going to be done in phases.
The Wakiso district water engineer Isaac Galabuzi said that this project is going to serve all the people who are on the main island of Bussi which has 3 parishes of Bwayise, Tebankiza and Bussi with 11 villages.
Galabuzi said that they brought this project to Bussi because only 24% of people living in this sub-county have clean water.
Galabuzi added that this project is going to be constructed in phases and the first phase which has been finished cost one billion Shillings. Galabuzi says that the Bussi sub-county suffered from different diseases which resulted from drinking contaminated water.
In constructing this project, Galabuzi says that they have faced a lot of challenges in transporting materials to the island and even so, the materials they found on the island were not good enough to use.
The newly elected chairperson Bussi sub-county, Charles Mukalazi appreciated the efforts by the district to provide clean water for the people living in the islands and he said that they have been suffering to get clean water and even many children and the old people have been suffering from bilharzia.
Galabuzi says that the persons in charge of these taps will sell water at UGX 100 Shillings a jerrycan and this money is going to be used to maintain the tap and also to pay the salaries of the people maintaining the water system.
Mukalazi says that the money they are going to charge on the taps is very little compared to the money they have been taking to the hospitals to treat the diseases that result from taking bad water.
Sylvia Nabuule, a resident of Bussi says that they have been buying water at the range of 500 to 1,000 a jerrycan and even in their area they did not have boreholes.
Matia Ndiwalana says that they appreciate the development they have got because when in the sunny season, they lack water.
Last year, Wakiso district started construction of the solar water project in Bussi sub-county with the intention of helping the people of Bussi to get clean water.
Galabuzi added that they have a plan to supply clean water in the other islands like Zzinga, Kavenyanja, Kituufu and Balabala apart from the main Island of Bussi.
Wakiso has 4,286 domestic water points which serve a total of 1,064,631 people, 712,981 of them in rural areas. Over 733 water points have been non-functional for over 5 years and are considered abandoned.
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