By. Misheck Moyo
Joseph Lundu aged 67 has lived in Kabushi Changanya area since the 1970’s. Mr. Lundu has never had piped water at his residence for over four decades now. The senior citizen and his household depend on a shallow well that has been in his back yard since time in memorial. Mr. Lundu is now among the over six thousand residents of Kabushi constituency that now have running water supply at their door steps, all thanks to Kafubu Water and Sanitation Company KWSC that has made it a reality for this household to access to clean and safe drinking water.
A few months ago, KWSC received emergency funds from the Disaster Management And Mitigation Unit DMMU in the tune of 10 million kwacha under phase one to undertake sewer and water improvement works in the area. The release of the funds follow the directive by President Hakainde Hichilema to have the historical sewer and water blues challenges worked on. Three months after the Presidential directive, the situation in Kabushi Constituency has drastically changed.
Republican President Hakainde Hichilema who is expected in the township today is set to inspect the works that have changed the lives of many.
Joe Mbewe, the Acting Managing Director for KWSC is happy with works that engineer’s from the utility have done on the ground.
” The utility received emergency funds from the Disaster Management and Mitigation Unit DMMU amounting to over 17 point 6 million kwacha for the improvement of water and sanitation in Kabushi Constituency of Ndola and Roan constituency of Luanshya District on the Copper belt. KWSC identified a number of areas in Kabushi constituency in Ndola that needed emergency works due to the non availability of piped water and the dilapidated sewer network.
The targeted areas Kabushi are; Kabushi Changanya, Kabushi mangwana and Kabushi Riverside. In Kabushi Changanya, half a kilometer of the water network has been laid and 83 new house connections have been done. A total of about 200 households have benefited from this water improvement project in this area, He adds.
in Kabushi Mangwana, the area previously had a water network, but due to aging of the pipes, the network collapsed.One point four kilometers of water network has since been laid and 150 new house connections are to be done and 300 households are to benefit from these connections.
Mr. Mbewe has further observed that in Kabushi Riverside, one point five kilometers of the water network has been laid, and 180 new connections are to be done, thus, targeting about 300 households that stand to benefit. Additionally, the replacement and upgrading of about Three point One kilometers of the sewer network in kabushi constituency which includes the replacement and upgrading of one kilometers sewer line in skyways ward. The sewer line in this area had collapsed and this lead to frequent sewer blockages and spillages. 84 houses had been affected by this collapsed line,” He said.
The works that KWSC has undertaken in Kabushi have extended to old Masala police camp.
According to KWSC Acting Managing Director, the rehabilitation and replacement of 93 toilets at Masala old police camp has commenced.
” These lines had totally collapsed. The works at the old Masala police camp include, replacement of one point one kilometers of sewer line and installation of one point one kilometers of water lines.In luanshya district, the utility has replaced Three kilometers of sewers in Roan, including the rehabilitation of 135 toilets in section 2BB area.
Kafubu Water and Sanitation Company KWSC is thankful for the support that the New Dawn Administration has rendered to the utility.
The utility is committed to ensuring that we improve the water and sanitation situation in our catchment areas here on the copper belt.
About the author. Misheck Moyo is a communication specialist with over 20 years hands on experience in the media industry. He is currently Manager Markerting and Public Relations at KWSC.
