By Mohamed Jaward Nyallay
Residents of Docorty community have complained to Politico over the lack of pipe borne water in their community. They said the community has gone more than two months without pipe borne water, following a sudden halt of a Guma Valley water extension project in the area.
Docorty is a vast community located at the back of Wilkinson Road, Freetown. The community has thousands of inhabitants, most of whom have stretched their settlements right to the heart of Thompson Bay.
Guma Valley Water Company started a project in the area to extend water supply to the community and reduce leakages. The start of the project saw them dig a trench to fix a sub-main pipe. Small sized rubber pipes that were connected right up to Wilkinson Road were all cut to make way for the sub-main pipe.
“We are very much disappointed in Guma. They came here even with the Deputy Managing Director and told us they wanted to make sure everyone gets water. We were so excited. They said the job would not even last for a week,” a resident in the community, Robert Salia Kamara, said.
“It has been over two months now since they left,” Kamara added.
The Chief of the community, Kelvin Dumbuya said the community people were tired of waiting.
“I am concerned about my community, water is life. The other day hundreds of people gathered and told me they wanted to come to the street and demonstrate. I had to convince them no to come out on the street for this,” Dumbuya said.
Chief Dumbuya added that the completion of the project would have been a relief for them.
“We use up to five rolls of pipes to get water down to our community. That is like three to four hundred meters away from the street. This project would have been a relief for all of us,” he stressed.
The Public Relations Officer of Guma, Alie Kabba told Politico that the project had to be halted because of some difficulties they are getting with procurement. He also acknowledged that Guma takes some of the blame for the situation.
He said: “They started the work with the hope of getting materials from the RFP (Results Financing Program), but unfortunately they have had some delay in their procurements. But even when it’s been delayed, we were supposed to step in and complete the work. But apparently, there was a gap in between, so two months down the line the work has not been completed.”
“I just spoke to the Engineer Thomas Vincent and he said the work will be completed next week. Because Guma Valley is supposed to get some materials this week,” Kabba added in an interview on Tuesday.
The Docorty work is one among several others that the Result Financing Program (RFP) under the Millennium Challenge Cooperation Unit (MCCU) is supporting.
Whiles the wait continues for the people of Docorty, there are concerns about a possible diarrhea outbreak. According to the chief, they have already received reports of diarrhea cases.
Residents currently fetch the water they drink from a makeshift reservoir called Carew Water; it is built at a spot where water runs from under rocks near a hill overlooking the community. The bottom of the ‘well’ is clotted with algae and fish could be seen swimming in it. Youths around the area, regularly clean around it in an effort to purify it as best as possible.
“We already have some few cases of diarrhea in the community. If we have an outbreak the government would be concerned,” said Chief Dumbuya.
“Some of us who can afford to buy water sachets, we do so. We use the water from the well to do some domestic work. But most of the people in this community depend on pipe borne water, now they drink this water,” added.
The Guma spokesman, Kabba, said they can only apologize to the community for what they are going through.
“The situation is unfortunate, and we apologize to the community. There is no denying that Guma doesn’t have some fault in this. We will try as best as possible to make sure we complete the program by the next week,” he assured.
© 2019 Politico Online
