There is a good road network in the state, but that is not all the Sullivan Chime administration has done. One other giant stride in the state is the provision of water.
The problem of water supply to Enugu metropolis was old as the city itself. Sources of water abound in the state. But the problem has been distribution. There are the World Bank assisted water project at Oji-River and the Ajalli water reservoir. But the question is distribution.
The water pipes laid by the colonial masters in the 1920s have all rusted and weakened. Successive administrations were not interested in replacing them. And every now and then the old pipes burst. And this constituted a herculean task for the workers at the water corporation. Instead of replacing the pipes, they rather patched them up, and the water problem persisted.
Governor Chime came with a different view. To him water is unarguably one of the most important basic needs of man. All through history, the success or otherwise of governments in all climes have been measured and predicated on how well they have been able to provide basic needs of the people more especially water.
Before the advent of his administration, water supply in Enugu State was the worst problem long declared to be intractable by preceding administrations.
But that era has since become history with the breakthroughs recorded by the Chime administration in the areas of regular water generation and distribution in both the urban and rural areas of the state.
The most significant and conspicuous of these achievements however, is the government’s successes in the area of urban water supply more especially with the restoration of public taps that were last seen in Enugu more than three decades ago.
Needless to say that Enugu residents and visitors alike, have welcomed this development with such jubilation and excitement that they have promptly nicknamed the taps Mmiri Sullivan (Sullivan’s Water).
The government had started this remarkable process of restoration with the complete removal of old steel and asbestos pipes in the urban areas – some of them which dated as far back as 1929- and replacing them with the safer and more durable PVC pipes. This not only helped to broaden the water supply channels and networks but ensured that it reached all nooks and crannies of the cities.
Regular supply of potable water has since ceased to be the exclusive perquisite of the rich living in the high-brow areas of the coal city. Residents of such less regarded areas of Obiagu, Abakpa, Achara Layout, Idaw River and Emene are now happy and proud beneficiaries of the taps that sit sedately in front of their respective houses.
Gone are the long treks to water boreholes or wells as well as the queues and the frequent fights that Enugu residents have endured all these years. It is of record that a full of generation of Enugu residents especially those in the low profile habitats never had the opportunity available today to enjoy this all important social service.
It is not yet uhuru though as the service is yet to get to all the areas but the affected residents are confident that with the enormity and the pace of work still being done by the state Water Corporation on the project, it would be a matter of time before the service reach their quarters.
A petty trader at Enugu’s slum area, Obiagu said that if anyone had told her that she would ever see a tap running freely in front of her ‘face me I face you’ residence in her lifetime, she would laughed the fellow away. “I grew up to believe that tap water was for the rich people living in GRA (Government Reserved Area and such places. I have lived here for twenty five years and I never saw any running tap until now”, she said.
Another citizen, residing in a part of Gariki, said that even though the service was still to reach his residence, he was optimistic that it would soon get there given the administration’s track record in keeping its promises to the people.
He said, “In Sullivan Chime, we have seen a governor who has always kept his promises, who has always completed his projects, even though our own tap is yet to be activated, we know and we see that work is going on and we are confident that in no time at all, we will join our fellow residents to enjoy this wonderful present”
Indeed, on inception, the administration set out to increase the state’s water supply capacity from under 20,000 cubic meters to 77,000 cubic metres. That objective has all but been realised.
The issue of water supply has even been tackled with greater zeal and vigour in the rural areas of the state. The Enugu State Rural Water Supply and sanitation Agency (EN-RUWASSA), is the agency charged with the responsibility of providing safe drinking water to the rural communities.
Records show that it has so far lived up to its billings under the Chime administration which has the provision of potable water and environmental sanitation as a cardinal component of its widely acclaimed 4-point agenda.
The governor’s major land marks in the provision of potable water supply in the rural areas include:
Construction of eight motorised boreholes in Nsukka, Igboeze-South, Ezeagu, Oji-River and Uzo-Uwani Local Government Areas, as well as N36 Million for 42 shallow boreholes in Aninri, Agwu, Nkanu East, Nkanu West, Isi-Uzo and Enugu South Local Government Area, Ogui-Agu Eke in Udi, Amankwo-Oghe in Ezeagu and Nimbo in Uzo-Uwani Councils.
With the support from some Local Government Councils, the Enugu State Government also rehabilitated water schemes at Umuaga and Obinagu (Udi), Ede Oballa (Nsukka), Amuri and Ojiagu Agbani (Nkanu West) while Government is doing work on the water schemes of Edem, Obukpa in Nsukka Local Government Area and in Ugbawka, Amechi Idodo and Owo in Nkanu East Local Government Area.
Rehabilitation of University of Nigeria Nsukka (UNN) water scheme which includes the construction of four new boreholes, new water reservoir and water. reticulation on the campus at the cost of N329 million were also completed by the administration Governor Chime
Construction work has also started on the over N2.5billion Adada River Dam project in Igbo-Etiti and Uzo-Uwani Local Council of the State to boost water supply in Enugu North Area of the State.
