MDGs unit sinks, resuscitates boreholes to curtail cholera

Mr Peter Gai, the Project Coordinator, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Project Support Unit (PSU) in Plateau, said that the office has sunk and resuscitated boreholes in Jos North Local Government Area, to curtail cholera outbreaks.

Gai, while on a tour of MDGs projects in the area on Monday, said that the office would sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the benefiting communities, to ensure that the facilities were well protected.

He said that the water supply problem in the area was very serious and that the provision of the boreholes became imperative in order to achieve the MDGs in terms of environmental sanitation and water supply to the people.

“We want to make sure that the incidence of cholera is reduced within Jos North.

“We had situations where people fetched water from streams, which is very hazardous to health. We have intervened by locating projects in areas we consider to be in dire need of such facilities. We sunk motorised boreholes in Kabong, Hwolaza, Chwel-Nyap (Congo Russia) and Mazah, apart from the hand pumps put in different locations in the council.”

The coordinator, however, said that the major challenge of sinking boreholes in most of the areas was the rocky nature of the terrain.

He said the PSU had a serious challenge in Kabong, where it had running battle to ensure that the residents got good drinking water.

Gai said that the borehole constructed in the area in 2007 broke down and was resuscitated late last year, but had low yield of water.

The coordinator assured the people that the PSU would do everything possible, within its mandate, to improve the yield and to sink more boreholes in the area.

Meanwhile,

Mr

Livy Alozieuwa, Special Assistant to Plateau Governor on Project Monitoring, who accompanied the MDGs Coordinator, commended the federal and the state governments for what they were doing through the MDGs Office.

“Unfortunately, there is this problem of vandalism of these facilities and we are calling on communities to step up their efforts to check it, so that they will continue to enjoy the facilities.” (NAN)