WaterAid and TeamWater have committed a $2.5 million grant to the rehabilitation of the Ojokoro Waterworks in Lagos.
The Lagos Water Corporation (LWC) on Friday signed a contract with Bayroyal International Ltd. (BIL) for the execution of the rehabilitation project.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said the contract signing was held at the LWC Ijora office in Lagos.
Speaking at the event, Mr Mukhtar Tijani, Managing Director of LWC, expressed appreciation to WaterAid and TeamWater for providing the grant.
Tijani said the rehabilitation project was expected to improve water supply and benefit about 72,000 residents of Ojokoro.
According to him, Ojokoro was an area where WaterAid had implemented several interventions in partnership with the corporation.
He also appreciated the Ojokoro chairman for supporting the project and commended WaterAid for its previous interventions in the community.
Tijani said the corporation had gained valuable experience from its engagement with WaterAid in academic rehabilitation, capacity building, safeguarding and coordination.
He also expressed appreciation to the Lagos State Government for its support toward improving water infrastructure across the state.
The managing director urged all stakeholders to ensure that the project achieved its intended purpose of providing reliable water supply to residents of Ojokoro.
Earlier, the Managing Director of BIL, Mr Peter Owoeye, said the company understood the importance of the project and the expectations surrounding its implementation.
Owoeye described the bidding and selection process as thorough, transparent and impressive.
He assured stakeholders that BIL would deploy its corporate commitment and resources to meet and exceed expectations in executing the project.
According to him, the project had the potential to become a major reference point for water infrastructure development in Lagos State.
He said the company would deploy the best engineering systems and practices in implementing the rehabilitation.
Owoeye also assured stakeholders that appropriate health and safety systems would be deployed throughout the project.
He thanked the corporation and other stakeholders for selecting BIL as the contractor for the rehabilitation.
In her remarks, the Country Director, WaterAid Nigeria, Mrs Evelyn Mere, said the contract signing marked a critical milestone toward securing a sustainable and resilient future for Lagos residents.
She said the rehabilitation went beyond signing a contract, describing it as a commitment to public health, dignity and socio-economic empowerment.
According to her, access to clean, safe and reliable water was a fundamental human right.
She said rapid urbanisation continued to put pressure on urban infrastructure, making interventions such as the Ojokoro project important.
Mere explained that the project would involve modernisation of civil, mechanical, electrical and instrumentation components.
“It would also include extensive borehole rehabilitation and new drilling to guarantee baseline daily water security,” Mere said.
She said renewable solar energy solutions would be integrated to power facility lighting and operations reliably.
Mere added that modern monitoring systems would be installed for real-time pressure tracking, leakage detection and automated network management.
According to her, bulk and household meters would also be deployed, while distribution networks would be expanded.
She said the measures were expected to drastically reduce non-revenue water and restore reliable supply to approximately 72,000 community members.
The country director said the project would bring stakeholders closer to achieving Sustainable Development Goal Six on clean water and sanitation for all.
She, however, said its success would depend on transparent execution and adherence to health, safety and environmental standards.
She urged the Lagos Water Corporation, implementation teams and contractors to deliver high engineering standards that communities in Ojokoro could be proud of.
NAN reports that the climax of the event was the official signing of the contract by LWC, WaterAid and the contractor.
(NAN)
