Lushoto Member of Parliament, Dk Henry Dafa Shekifu

Some Members of Parliament yesterday questioned delays in the implementation of water programmes at 10 villages in districts funded by the World Bank.

The lawmakers said that the government had promised to implement them, but it was yet to make them a reality.

Lushoto Member of Parliament Henry Shekifu (CCM) said that implementation of the projects had taken so long and that “they are now fed up” with empty promises.

Citing an example, he said three villages were earmarked for water projects at Mlola, but to date there was no even a single village which was getting water supply as promised.

Mkinga Member of Parliament Dustan Kitandula (CCM) said that Mkinga District has met all the qualifications for the projects, but only one village was benefiting. “We want the government to tell us when this programme will be implemented in the remaining villages,” he queried.

He said that following the water problem in Muheza District the government disbursed funds for drilling wells, but instead the wells were drilled in areas where were not research, hence they ended up getting dry wells.

The MP called upon the government to take disciplinary measures against the council water engineer, who reportedly failed to supervise contractors to execute the project, as indicated in the plan.

Responding, Water Deputy Minister Binilith Mahenge admitted that there were problems in implementing the programme. He said among others, the problem included lack of thorough researches, which led to use of incorrect statistics.

The Deputy Minister directed Muheza District Council to liaise with the contractor looking for a lasting solution to the problem. He also directed the council to hold accountable the council engineer, if discovered that he failed to supervise well implementation of the programme in his area.

In the basic question, Muheza MP Herbert Mtangi (CCM) had wanted to know why the government was not assigning the Nelson Mandela University in Arusha the task of conducting water research in order to get reliable water at low cost.

He also had the view that the technology used to research underground water was outdated and costly.

Responding, Mahenge said that the technology of investigating underground water had not changed worldwide particularly in the equipment used in conducting research.

He further said that the duty of higher learning institutions was to provide training, conducting research and advising on issues related to people’s development, therefore, the Deputy Minister said it was upon the University itself to research on important areas aimed at addressing problems facing the people, including access to water.