The Managing Director of FordMarx Nigeria Limited, Engr. Clifford Nnaji, who is handling the complete rehabilitation of the 9th Mile Crash Programme being executed by the administration of Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, after over 35 years since the water project was abandoned, has assured residents of Enugu that the issue of water supply will soon be a thing of the past.
Engr. Nnaji who spoke on the extent of work done at the site, disclosed that the water scheme which involves the conversion of 13 industrial boreholes to solar power to ensure availability and sustainability of water reticulation to Enugu metropolis “is over 90 percent completed”.
It would be recalled that Gov. Ugwuanyi’s administration in its sheer determination to decisively address water challenges in the state recently awarded contract to FordMarx Nigeria Limited for comprehensive rehabilitation of the 9th Mile Crash Programme which was abandoned after the administration of former Governor Jim Nwobodo of old Anambra State.
Each of the rehabilitated boreholes is solar-powered, to address the peculiar challenges of power failure.
The project was conceptualized by Gov. Ugwuanyi’s administration to boost the volume of water being reticulated from the aged water scheme. The project has a two-year warranty and maintenance by the company.
Speaking further, the Managing Director of FordMarx Nigeria Limited stated that “we are getting more than what we expected in terms of the quality of water and soonest we will be rounding up”.
Engr. Nnaji assured that “water will be available at an affordable rate and also sustainable because the rehabilitated boreholes are powered by solar as we will not wait for the grid electricity or diesel powered generator to pump water”.
He revealed that after servicing the 13 boreholes they discovered at the site, eight of them are now in good working condition stressing: “There is enough water and we have seen more that what we expected”.
According to him, “the borehole can sustain more than the size of the pump we proposed initially. The borehole can sustain more than 100 horsepower pump. We had expected something about 500 cubic meters per day from a hole, but now we are getting more than double of what we expected”.
The contractor who listed other ongoing projects at the site such as perimeter fencing of 250 plots of land covering the facility, severe gully erosion control of about 15 meters depth and a security tower with CCTV cameras, commended Gov. Ugwuanyi for his unrelenting commitment to the massive water project aimed at addressing the challenges of water supply in Enugu, pointing out that the governor “is the man of the people who listens to the voice of the people”.
