The Federal Government has disclosed that it inherited over 166 ongoing and abandoned water projects from previous administrations as far back as 1992 and the early 2000s.
The Minister of Water resources, Suleiman Adamu, stated this on Thursday while speaking at the weekly ministerial briefing organized by the Presidential Communication Team at the presidential villa, Abuja.
Adamu said the Federal Government has, however, made a strategic decision to concentrate more on completing as many of the ongoing and abandoned projects. He listed the abandoned projects to include irrigation, dam and sanitation projects.
The Minister, who attributed the abandoned project to poor financing, added that his administration is seeking ways to source for funds beyond the national allocation.
He said, “We inherited 116 ongoing and abandoned projects. And we made a strategic decision that we are going to concentrate more on completing as many of the ongoing and abandoned projects that we found.
“So we have not been in the habit of starting new projects, although we are coming to that in due course.
“The 166 projects include 38 irrigation projects, 37 dam projects and others. After doing a technical audit in 2016, we prioritized them into high, medium and low priority. And that has been what is driving us.
“We also have a goal to complete viable projects only.
“Water infrastructure is a money guzzler and this is why several past projects have not been completed.
“So, we thought we could find some other ways to raise finance to complete these projects. We had to think outside the box.
“We are now mobilizing finance for these projects asides the normal budgetary allocation.”
