W’Bank partners FG to renovate Kwara’s Asa Dam

The World Bank and the Federal Government will assist the Kwara State Government to rehabilitate its Asa Dam Water project which is to supply potable water for residents in the state capital and the adjourning communities.

Arewa PUNCH gathered that the project is to be executed under a tripartite partnership entered into to tackle the challenges of water resources, agriculture and land reclamation due to ecological factors in some parts of Kwara State.

Meanwhile, the state government disclosed that  as at 2019, it had injected over N6.7bn into the Asa Dam Water reticulation project but had yet to run water to residents of the Ilorin Metropolis.

Speaking during a tour of the Eruda, Ojaiya/Ita-Amodu erosion control projects, as well as the Asa Dam water treatment plant in Ilorin on Wednesday, a team of experts from the World Bank, Agro-Climate Resilience in Semi-Arid Landscape and members of the state executive council, also disclosed that the state stands to benefit from the $700m loan for land reclamation.

The national project coordinator of ACReSAL, Mallam Abdulhameed Umar, assurèd that the team is committed to the theme of the first intervention visitation in the state –  ‘Acceleration of ACReSAL projects’ implementation in Kwara State.’

He added that, “ACReSAL is funded by the World Bank wherein the Federal Government through the ministry of finance borrowed $700m to situate and resolve issues of environment, agriculture, and water, wherein 19 northern states and Abuja are privileged to assess the fund to tackle issues brought about by ecological effects, climate change, and land degradation”.

Umar, who further stressed that each of the 19 northern states and Abuja will benefit from the fund after payment of their counterpart funds, maintained that the project aims to address issues of poverty among the poor people in rural areas and communities, even as he insisted that, “Degraded lands are supposed to be recovered to become fertile to service predominantly mainstay of our people, which is agriculture.”

He pointed out that, “The project is anchored on three pillars of dry land management, climate smart agricultural practices as well as strengthening policies and institutions for the project to outlive all of us.”

Speaking more to Arewa PUNCH on the assessment of the Asa dam water works, the

project coordinator

lamented that “water hyacinth had taken over the source of potable drinking water, adding that equipment in the water treatment plant is not only dilapidated but obsolete.

“For that reason, we’re in support of the state government’s proposition to invest in order to revitalise the water work for the purpose of providing potable drinking water to the people.”

He also bemoaned the activities of fishermen in the area, which he said had polluted the dam.

“So, we must devise other means of livelihood for the people. This dam requires urgent rehabilitation,” Umar pointed out.

Also speaking, the state Commissioner for Environment who doubles as the Chairman of the State Steering Committee of ACReSAL, Sheu Ndanusa Usman, like Umar, equally lamented that majority of the land mass in the country is being eroded due to ecological problems, deforestation and over grazing.

As a result, he emphasised that the state government is committed to ensuring that the partnership works for the benefit of the people of the state.

The team paid a courtesy call on the Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari.