Kano State Water Board and the state electricity distribution company (KEDCO) have traded blames as residents of Kano metropolis continue to languish in water scarcity.
The Management of the Water Board had reportedly said it was not able to supply sufficient water to parts of the state capital because the DisCo does not provide adequate electricity supply to power its machines.
The General Manager, Engineering, Engr. Garba Ahmed Bichi who briefed journalists in Kano said the Water Board is working round the clock to ensure adequate water supply across the state.
He said the state government under the administration of Dr Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has not failed in ensuring that the Water Board gets all it requires to provide water to residents.
Kano state chapter of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) had lamented inadequate water supply within Kano metropolis in its last Congress.
Engr. Bichi, however, decried the inability of KEDCO to provide adequate power supply to its water treatment plants at Tamburawa which is supplying water mainly to eight metropolitan Local Government Areas where water scarcity is currently biting hard.
He said despite collecting monthly bill of N150 million, KEDCO has not been supplying enough electricity to power the equipment at the water treatment plant which is currently operating at 50 per cent capacity.
“The state government spends N500 million every month for the Water Board. We pay N150 million every month to KEDCO to supply us electricity eight hours per day, but we are not getting adequate power supply, particularly, in Tamburawa Water Treatment Plant,” he alleged.
Responding to the allegation in a statement issued late Friday by the Head Corporate Communications Mr. Ibrahim Sani Shawai, the management of the electricity distribution firm refuted the claim, describing it as false and baseless.
It claimed that “power supply in all states under KEDCO’s franchise area, have witnessed massive improvement in the last three months and everyone in Kano Metropolis and environs can testify to this.”
Shawai said the feeders that supply Challawa and Tamburawa are important feeders to KEDCO and would “always get supply as long as there is supply from the national grid; so the claim by Kano Water Board has no base as far as KEDCO is concerned”
He asked the Water Board to take responsibility for their inefficiency and keep KEDCO out of its blame game.
Kano metropolis has for the past few weeks been hit hard by water shortage which forced majority of the residents to depend on water vendors for their daily supply irrespective of where the water is sourced.
