Tanzania government warns zero tolerance on delayed implementation of water projects

Minister for Water and Irrigation, Prof Makame Mbarawa. File Photo

What you need to know:

  • Speaking during a water stakeholders forum in the city on Thursday, July 19, he said in the short period since he took over the docket, he has toured several water projects in the country and realised shortcomings mainly delays in completion of the projects due to underperformance of engineers.

Dar es Salaam. The minister for Water and Irrigation, Prof Makame Mbarawa, has warned that underperformance by players in the implementation of water projects will not be tolerated.

Speaking during a water stakeholders forum in the city on Thursday, July 19, he said in the short period since he took over the docket, he has toured several water projects in the country and realised shortcomings mainly delays in completion of the projects due to underperformance of engineers.

“I may not be a water engineer, but I know for sure that you a project scheduled to take say two years cannot be implemented in five years,” he said.

Prof Mbalawa observed that the cause of such a trend could be rooted on how companies recruited their engineers, particularly being influenced by favouratism.

He said, “It is time to change. We’ll have zero tolerance on underperformance and substandard output.”

Meanwhile, the minister revealed that the government, through implementation of the Water Sector Development Programme II, was expected to spend over Sh7 trillion to make sure all remote areas were supplied with clean and safe water.

For her part, the deputy minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, Ms Stella Manyanya, said water projects would be implemented accordingly provided women were also closely involved.

“If women were to be involved more in this, we’d be assured that these projects would be implemented accordingly. It is women who suffer the most from water shortages,” she observed.