PROJECTNAME | Sea Water Desalination |
OBJECTIVES |
As it is evident in recent past, the current situation with the water supply in Freetown is very critical. Most of the communities in the East of Freetown (Allen Town, Calaba Town, Wellington and Kissy) and mountain communities are largely underserved. This has created untold hardship for families, who have to take extraordinary measures to get water. Women and children are travelling long distances, spending hours in queues to collect water from any source they can get. This in effect has resulted in a desperate situation throughout the affected communities. Early this year the situation in Western Area particularly Freetown reached an alarming rate when it became increasingly apparent that the levels of water scarcity in Freetown were more acute than in past years. The overall objective of this project is to expand access and provide potable water to the general populace of the east end of Freetown where availability of pipe-born water is a serious challenge. |
BENEFITS |
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STAKEHOLDERS |
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ACCOMPLISHMENTS | Still pending kick off |
COMMENTARY |
This project to be pre-financed by a Dubai based developer Planet Core Group will finance, design, build, operate and maintain a desalination plant on a PPP basis so as to alleviate the stress of lack of constant water supply to the east end of the capital. The project is expected to be located at Kebbay Compound in the the east end of Freetown and will cater for four major communities namely; Allen Town, Calaba Town, Wellington and Kissy. The Sea Water Desalination Project Phase 1 is an immediate intervention with a production capacity of 21,000 m3 per day and is expected to be completed within 4 to 5 months from commencement date. The plant will utilize reverse osmosis technology to convert sea water to potable drinking water for the benefit of an estimated population of 420,000 people. |
PROJECTSTATUS | Under review by relevant MDAs |
ISSUES/RISK |
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TIMELINE |
1-24 months |
NETWORK UPGRADE
PROJECTNAME | Eastern Network Rehabilitation and Expansion Project |
OBJECTIVES |
Due to the current poor state as a result of lack of investments over the years and limited capacity of the network in the east end of Freetown, the above project is geared towards rehabilitating the existing network but due to the fact that there has been increase in urbanization leading to more people and areas without network, expansion of the network to cover these areas will also be undertaken as a wholesome part of this project. The overall objective therefore is to ensure the deployment of a complete and active network system that covers every household within Allen Town, Calaba Town, Wellington and Kissy communities. Additionally, this project has as its focus a zero non-revenue regime where water losses from leaks are non-existent or very minimal through effective community engagement and monitoring. |
BENEFITS | Below key benefits of this project
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STAKEHOLDERS |
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ACCOMPLISHMENTS | Still pending approval from relevant MDAs |
COMMENTARY |
The current network being maintained by GVWC is an aged old network system which has been around since the 60s and has deteriorated immensely over the years due to lack of investment. It is noted that most of the leaks in the transmission mains are not seen on the physical surface but rather underground. These underground leaks are only noticeable at bridge points (confirmation of chlorine is only noticeable after testing) which make it very challenging. Consequently, this situation results in significant loss of treated water. Additionally, significant portion of revenue is lost due to these leakages with the ultimate effect of Guma’s inability to serve majority of the population in the east end of Freetown. It is against this backdrop that this project for the rehabilitation and expansion of the existing network line is being pursued by the Ministry of Water Resources. Also, this project supports the Sea Water Desalination Project as it ensures an effective system for the delivery of water to each household within the project areas. |
PROJECTSTATUS | Under review by relevant MDAs |
ISSUES/RISK |
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TIMELINE | 1-12 months |
HASTINGS
PROJECTNAME | REHABILITATION/EXPANSION OF HASTINGS GRAVITY WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM |
OBJECTIVES |
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BENEFITS |
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ACCOMPLISHMENTS | Still pending approval from relevant MDAs |
COMMENTARY |
The government of Sierra Leone is poised to improve access to safe water supply in rural, urban and peri-urban communities in response to closing the gap between the population with and without access to safe drinking water. In this regard, the Sierra Leone Water Company embarked on a feasibility study for the reconstruction of pipe borne Water Supply Systems in small and medium towns like the Hastings Community. Hastings is located along the peninsula, gained it name during the colonial era; the community was significant during the first and second world wars because of its airfield. Many of the people make a living working as civil servants, traders, farmers, police officers and teachers; others are stone miners, woodcutters and coal producers. In Hastings there is great ethnical and religious acceptance, majority of the people living at Hastings are from Creole, Limba, Temne, Loko, Mende, Fullah and Madingo. The population of Hastings is estimated at 15,054 projected from 2004 population and housing census. On the 11th of May 1941, the British colonial power constructed a weir at the hills of Hasting, a water supply project meant to supply water to the barracks and airfield. The system is still supplying water to Hastings and the newly developed communities along the peninsula. There is huge reduction in the quantity of water supplied by this weir, as a result of increase in the population of these communities. The availability of water from this source is huge, but the impounding dam is small to accommodate the high demand from increase in population. Communities rely on water from streams and wells most of which are unprotected and usually dry up in the dry season. Population and other social activities have grown against the inadequacy of safe drinking water supply. Signs of potential rapid rise in social and economic activities are seen and it is believed that with the improvement of Water Supply, this potential can be enhanced. |
PROJECTSTATUS | Under review by relevant MDAs |
ISSUES/RISK |
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TIMELINE | 1-12 months |
BACKUP PLAN
PROJECTNAME | 2017 Freetown Dry Season Water Supply Backup Plan |
OBJECTIVES |
The scope of works proposed is both realistic and ambitious, because it needs to address all aspects of water scarcity management. Our strategy is fourfold:
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BENEFITS |
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ACCOMPLISHMENTS | Still pending kick off |
COMMENTARY |
This Backup Plan will be implemented immediately beginning November 2016, through the end of January/ early February 2017. GVWC and our other implementing partners have submitted high-level and detailed activity plans demonstrating that the full set of initiatives are realistic and achievable within the specified timeframe. The most critical and time sensitive activities include securing funding by end of October, and the tendering process for contractors. Another potential limitation is the availability of contractor capacity to absorb each of the proposed initiatives. To mitigate this and other potential timeline risks, GVWC and the MWR will be convening weekly working group meetings with key stakeholders as relevant, to ensure all actions are progressing swiftly towards the January/ early February 2017 implementation deadline. This will thus ensure adequate preparation has been made and the interventions are in place to operationalize all elements of the Backup Plan for the duration of the entire dry season, December 2016 to May 2017. See Annex II for a high-level implementation activity plan and timeline. |
PROJECTSTATUS | Awaiting funding from Ministry of Finance & Economic Development |
ISSUES/RISK |
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TIMELINE | 1- 5 months |
45 INDUSTRIAL BOREHOLES
PROJECTNAME | FORTY FIVE (45) INDUSTRIAL BOREHOLES WITH FIFTEEN (15) REINFORCED CEMENT CONCRETE OVER HEAD SERVICE RESERVOIRS POWERED BY SOLAR PUMP. |
OBJECTIVES | The key aim of this project is to provide water to communities within the Freetown Municipality that are not connected to the current pipe network. It is quite apparent that the Guma dam and the pipe network are quite obsolete and also inadequate to meet the demand for water in Freetown, thus the need to complement the network with ground water reticulated to unserved communities. It is also geared towards combating the usual water crisis during the dry season. |
BENEFITS |
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ACCOMPLISHMENTS | Still pending kick off |
COMMENTARY | This project explores ground water source and caters for low income communities in and around the Freetown Municipality that are currently not connected to the existing pipe network. Under this project, 15 characteristically poor communities will benefit with each having 3 boreholes with reinforced cement concrete overhead service reservoirs powered by solar pumps. It will be implemented by a private sector partner that has agreed to pre-finance 50% of the overall project cost due to the urgency of completion to meet the forthcoming dry season. This will enhance liquidity space to Government during this critical economic period. |
PROJECTSTATUS | Under review by relevant MDAs |
ISSUES/RISK |
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TIMELINE |
1-24 months |