Rwandan government announced plans to increase access to drinking water to 100 percent by 2018 as 393 of the 1,029 rural water supply systems in the country need urgent rehabilitation.
According to official data, rural access to water is currently at 83 per cent while in urban areas it is at 90 per cent.
According to James Sano, chief executive of the country’s Water and Sanitation Corporation (WASAC,) the goal to achieve 100 percent clean water coverage will be attained considering the fact that the supply systems are going to be fixed.
“More than half of the Rwandan population has access to clean water. This is a good effort, but more needs to be done. We are focusing on achieving the target in the next two years,” he said.
He said the government and other partners had invested a lot of money in construction of the supply systems but most of them are no longer operational.
“Once supply systems were constructed, there was no maintenance plan in place and no operational sustainability. Going forward, every stakeholder must play their part to ensure such gaps are plugged,” Sano said.
Some 700 private operators have been trained and are currently grouped in associations as a step to ensure proper maintenance of water systems.