Gov. Rauf Aregbesola of Osun says his
administration will spend N48.73 billion on the Ilesa water and sanitation
project.
The governor said this in Ilesa on Monday at
the launch of the project tagged ‘‘the biggest singular project in Osun since
its creation’’.
He said that a major part of the funds for the
project, which was 65 million U.S. dollars (about N23 billion), had been
obtained from the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) in Saudi Arabia.
He added that the loan had a repayment period
of 25 years.
Aregbesola said the contractor handling the
project, which was appointed by IDB, had given an assurance that the project
would be completed within 24 months.
He expressed the hope that by December 2019,
the water project, including the waterworks, would be fully operational.
He said three reservoirs, which had the
capacity of producing 60 million litres of water per day, would be constructed
in the course of the project.
Besides, Aregbesola said that the state
government in 2015 paid N8.39 billion to the Federal Government for the
completion of the Kajola Water Dam in Ilesa.
He added that the dam would be the main source
of water supply to the reservoirs.
He, however, said the state government was
still looking for additional N15.31 billion to construct the water supply
network of the project.
He said that the government was looking at how
the World Bank and IDB could assist with the needed funds.
Aregbesola said that in the history of the
state and, indeed, the defunct Western Region, the water project was the
biggest project coming to one town.
He said that the people of Ilesa would enjoy
uninterrupted water supply for more than 50 years, after the completion of the
project.
The consultant handling the water project, Mrs
Tawakalitu Williams, said that the water project was conceived following the
completion of the Kajola Water Dam in Ilesa by the Federal Government in 2015.
She said that the physical construction works
of the water project would be completed in 2019.
Williams said that three water reservoirs
would be constructed to supply water to the residents of Ilesa.
In his remarks, the Owa Obokun of Ijeshaland,
Oba Adekunle Aromolaran, thanked the governor for ensuring that Ilesa had its
own water scheme.
Aromolaran said that the water project, when
completed, would provide his people with potable water and facilitate efforts
to eliminate water-borne diseases in the neighbourhood
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