It is a thing of joy for the people as they eagerly look forward to drinking potable running water as they like and enjoying uninterrupted streetlights at night. This is courtesy of the Kano State Government which is set to inaugurate its Tiga Hydroelectricity Plant that will generate at least 10 megawatts of power to fire the water treatment plant and streetlights.
That automatically will also ensure the availability of drinking water for the huge Kano population and reduce the incidence of water-borne diseases which have plagued the town for decades due to lack of potable water. Residents in the state have faced acute water shortages for years, with taps remaining dry across the state.
Such areas include Kano Municipal, Dala, Nasarawa, Tarauni, Gwale, and Fagge local government areas. Residents in such areas were left with no option but to source water from boreholes or water vendors, thereby exposing themselves to unclean water and an imminent cholera outbreak. The residents were also forced to pay a heavy price for water because water vendors, who took advantage of the absence of running water in a densely populated state like Kano, made brisk business.
A resident of Naibawa, Tarauni LGA, Habeeba Mohammed, said that in the absence of running water for many years, they were forced to use water from the well. Mohammed said: “We resorted to the use of well water and usually fill buckets in the bathroom with the water we fetch from the well as the water is not running from our taps and showers. In fact, currently, our well is dry because a neighbour dug a borehole in the neighbourhood,” Habeeba lamented.
Those familiar with the development identified the epileptic power supply as the major factor responsible for the acute water shortage in Kano State, while others blamed the problem on the growing population, pipe leakages, and destruction, among others. It was also gathered that Kano metropolitan areas alone require at least 210 million litres of water from the Challawa complex daily, but now only get about 50 million litres due to the ongoing expansion project in the area.
According to a reliable source, once the project is completed, the Tamburawa treatment plant will produce 150 million litres, and the Challawa complex will produce 210 million litres, for a total of 360 million litres of water per day. Similarly, the Kano State Water Board and the Kano Electricity Distribution Company, KEDCO, have often traded blame between themselves over the unceasing water challenge in the state and the predicament of the residents.
However, to put an end to the predicament, Governor Ganduje has announced that the 10-megawatt power plant is now ready for the inauguration to pump water for the state and improve street lighting. The governor said after a visit to the project site that the hydropower project had been completed and was ready for use. Ganduje expressed satisfaction with the progress of the work while commending the efforts of the state-independent power company, KHEDCO, contractors, and other stakeholders.
Shedding more light on the project, the Managing Director, Kano Hydro and Energy Development Company, KHEDCO, Engr. Hadiza Ahmed Tukur said the project was borne out of the need to address the water shortage and also boost the power supply in the state. “So when we supply the Tamburawa Water Treatment Plant, we take them off the electricity line, and the excess power supply will be supplied and channelled to take care of other residential areas.
By doing that, we are increasing power supply in Kano State,” she said.
Tukur, who doubles as the Acting Director General, Kano Metropolitan Agency (street light agency), said the Tiga power station is also expected to power street lights in the state. “The issue with effective streetlight operation is the scarcity and price increase of diesel. Even with your money, it is scarce. So when the project is commissioned, it will power our street lights at night since the street lights are most useful at night, while we plan to sell the power during the day to some industries to boost the economy. So if we commission this project (Tiga power station), the government will be relieved of the burden of diesel scarcity and price hikes.”