By Mama A. Touray
National Water and Electricity Company Thursday at its headquarters in Kanifing updated public on the World Bank covid-19 water supply which will be ending 15th October 2021.
Speaking to the media, Hawa Jallow communication official at NAWEC said the main objective of the briefing is to inform the public through the media that the covid-19 water tanks assistance by the World Bank is no more sustainable.
She added that the project has ended and World Bank declared that they can no longer continue to fund the project which was implemented by NAWEC and NAWEC on the other hand do not have the financial muscle to continue the project and World Bank decommission the tanks by the 15th October 2021 (today).
She continued that the project was funded by the World Bank with the objective of giving Gambians the opportunity to have uninterrupted water supply that they can use to curb the pandemic.
“Since the covid19 pandemic showed its ugly head in The Gambia, NAWEC with the world bank has given humanitarian assistance in the form of sanitizers, soaps to schools and Madrassa across the country , now that covid19 has drastically reduced , we will cease the using of the tanks’’ she said.
Tamsir Sawaneh representative of the water business unit said this taskforce was formed 18th March 2020 and was initiated by the then director headed by then water consultant Gallow Saidy, “during the pandemic we see to it that people need to wash their hands to avoid the spread of the virus.”
He added that along the line the water was used beyond its purpose adding, most of the areas where they installed this covid-19 tanks were areas that got no enough water supply which is 12 hours in that case they start using the water for drinking and the water was collected from treatment plan.
Mr. Sawaneh continued that the tanks were supposed to be country wide but looking at the cost they limited it to the greater Banjul area among which are Kololi, Kunkujang, Sukuta, Tabokoto and amongst other communities that benefitted from the project.
He concluded that NAWEC spent over D8 million for the service with the amount of water included the project is from 15th June to 15th October in which they spent over D4 million within these four months.