Former Senate leader, Ali Ndume has explained that the abandoned thirty-eight year Biu Water Dam has crippled economic opportunity it would have provided for the people in the North-East geo-political zone.
He lamented that the Federal Government was unable to pay its counterpart funds after Borno State government fulfilled its own financial obligation of the project.
Speaking with newsmen in Abuja on Friday, after paying a courtesy call on the Minister of Water Resources, Alhaji Suleiman Adamu, the lawmaker disclosed that works would soon resume on the abandoned project.
According to him, the Minister had assured the people of the zone on the completion of Biu Water, revealing that the project has been captured in the 2020 budget.
“The Minister assured that work would commence for continuation of the dam project in 2020, and I want to commend the Federal Government for that move.”
The former majority leader said that the move by the federal government would help solve the problem of water scarcity faced by residents in the area and adjoining communities.
“Although the state government had paid its counterpart fund for the completion of the dam, the federal government over the years failed to meet up its part of the funding for continuation of the project.”
“It is cheering to hear that the Biu Dam, a project that was awarded over 38 years ago but abandoned over the years, has been captured in the 2020 budget of the Federal Ministry of Water Resources.”
“The first phase of the project was awarded to LeeFakino and re-awarded to Nalando Company recently but no work is going on there.”
“With this assurance from the Minister, when completed, the dam will service residents who have over the years suffered immensely for lack of water.”
“Biu, an agrarian community and other neighbouring communities have been subjected to untold hardship due to the continued abandonment of the dam project in spite of the huge socio-economic opportunities it will provide.”
“The dam when completed will not only help in tackling perennial water shortage in the area but provide water for irrigation for the people, whose major occupation is farming,” he said.
It would be recalled that Sen. Ali Ndume (APC Borno South), had appealed to the Federal government to complete the abandoned Biu Dam project, awarded over 38 years ago, to address water scarcity in the area.
Ndume had said that the lack of access to water in the area had affected over 200,000 people, thereby crippling socio-economic activities.
